{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73954/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73954","id":"gutenberg_73954","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73954","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English -- Juvenile literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n[Illustration: THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.]\n\n\n\n                            SUNDAY STORIES\n\n\n                      STORIES FROM THE OLD AND NEW\n                              TESTAMENTS\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                       JOHN F. SHAW & CO., LTD.\n                   3, Pilgrim Street, London, E.C.4\n\n\nBritish Manufacture.\n\n\n\n                              CONTENTS.\n\n\n      I. The Message to the Shepherds\n\n     II. \"His Star\"\n\n    III. The Flight into Egypt\n\n     IV. Found in the Temple\n\n      V. At Jordan\n\n     VI. \"Nazareth where He was brought up\"\n\n    VII. The Well at Nazareth\n\n   VIII. At Bethany\n\n     IX. The Temptation\n\n      X. The Deep Well\n\n     XI. \"Suffer Little Children to come unto Me\"\n\n    XII. \"Follow Me\"\n\n   XIII. Lazarus\n\n    XIV. The Widow's Mite\n\n     XV. \"Do this in Remembrance of Me\"\n\n    XVI. The Lame Man Leaping\n\n   XVII. Gethsemane\n\n  XVIII. The Trial\n\n    XIX. The King of the Jews\n\n     XX. The Soldiers Mocked Him\n\n    XXI. Jesus Carrying His Cross\n\n   XXII. The Cross of Jesus\n\n  XXIII. The Sealed Tomb\n\n   XXIV. The Resurrection\n\n    XXV. On the Shore at Dawn\n\n   XXVI. Going to the Father\n\n  XXVII. When the Earth was made Beautiful\n\n XXVIII. Adam and Eve\n\n   XXIX. Cain and Abel\n\n    XXX. The Escape from Sodom\n\n   XXXI. The Tower of Babel\n\n  XXXII. The Friend of God\n\n XXXIII. In a Thirsty Land\n\n  XXXIV. The Offering of Isaac\n\n   XXXV. A Bargain Between Two Brothers\n\n  XXXVI. The Ladder up to Heaven\n\n XXXVII. Jacob meets Rachel\n\nXXXVIII. The Story of Joseph\n\n  XXXIX. Jacob Comes into Egypt\n\n     XL. Moses and the Children of Israel\n\n    XLI. The Rod of God\n\n   XLII. Pharaoh's Refusal\n\n  XLIII. The Passover\n\n   XLIV. Bread from Heaven\n\n    XLV. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness\n\n   XLVI. Breaking God's Law\n\n  XLVII. A Great Victory\n\n XLVIII. Caleb's Daughter\n\n   XLIX. The First King\n\n\n                            SUNDAY STORIES\n\n\nI. The Message to the Shepherds\n\nIn the dark night, all was still and quiet in those fields at\nBethlehem, where the shepherds watched their flock and gazed up into\nthe starry sky, waiting for the dawn.\n\nBut as they looked, suddenly they saw an angel of the Lord close to\nthem, and a wonderful light shone all round them\u2014such a glory as they\nhad never seen before, even in the brightest day.\n\nThe shepherds were very frightened, but the angel spoke to them at\nonce; and he said to them, what God says to us so many times in the\nBible: \"Fear not!\"\n\nYou may think how anxiously the shepherds listened to the angel's\nwords; and those words have been repeated thousands and thousands of\ntimes all over the world, and have made heavy hearts rejoice.\n\nListen to the angel's message: \"Fear not! for, behold, I bring you good\ntidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.\"\n\nStill the shepherds held their breath to listen, and still the glory of\nthe Lord shone round them.\n\nWas that all the message? What were the glad tidings which would make\neverybody joyful?\n\nAh! Here it is: \"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a\nSaviour, which is Christ the Lord!\"\n\nDid the shepherds turn and look eagerly towards the little village over\nthe fields? \"A Saviour? Christ the Lord?\"\n\nBut hush! The angel has not finished his message: \"And this shall be\na sign unto you: Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,\nlying in a manger.\"\n\nAnd then, as if the news was too great and too glad for them to keep\nsilence any longer, suddenly there was with the angel thousands more\nangels, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying,\n\"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards\nmen!\"\n\nThen all the angels went back to heaven, and the shepherds said to each\nother, \"Let us go, and see this thing that has come to pass, which the\nLord hath made known to us.\"\n\nSo they ran very quickly to Bethlehem, and there, in the stable of\nthe inn, they found Mary and Joseph, with the Holy Babe wrapped in\nswaddling clothes, and lying in the manger!\n\nThen the shepherds understood what the angel had meant about the\n\"sign\"; that this little Babe was the One they were looking for, and\nwas to be the Saviour of the world.\n\nHow glad they were! They were only poor men, those shepherds, among the\npoorest in the land, but they had the honour of being told of God's\ngreat gift, and they had seen Him with their own eyes.\n\nNo wonder that they went out and told everybody they met that the Babe\nlying in the manger was Christ the Lord.\n\n\n\nII. \"His Star\"\n\nHow happy those men look! They are pointing to a bright star, and it is\none which they are very glad to see.\n\nThey have come a very long journey; and they have had to go through hot\ndeserts where there is no water to be had.\n\nWhat made them take that journey, do you think?\n\nWhen people go a long way, they generally want to see some one at the\nend of it. And these wise men from the East wanted to see some one too.\n\nThey had come all that way to see a King! When they reached the end of\ntheir journey and got to Jerusalem, their first question was, \"Where\nis He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the\nEast, and are come to worship Him.\"\n\nNow Herod was the king of the Jews at that time, a king set up by the\nRomans; and when he heard what the wise men said, he did not like it at\nall.\n\nSo he inquired of the chief priests whether they knew where Christ\nshould be born; and when he understood that God had said in the\nScriptures that He should be born in Bethlehem, he sent secretly for\nthe wise men, and told them to search for the Baby King, and when they\nhad found Him, to let him know, and he would come and worship Him too.\n\nSo the wise men left King Herod, and when they began their journey\nagain, lo! The star which they had seen in the East, went before them,\ntill it came and stood over where the young child was.\n\nWhen they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.\n\nAnd when they were come into the house, they saw the dear little Baby\nwith Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him; and when\nthey had opened their treasures\u2014which you know the camels had brought\nall that way\u2014they presented to the dear Lord Jesus gifts from their\nstore, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.\n\nThen God warned them in a dream to go back to their country another\nway, and not to return to Herod, who was a wicked man, and did not\nreally want to worship the Lord Jesus at all.\n\nDo you not think you would have liked to be with the wise men, and have\nfound the dear little Baby, and have had the joy of giving Him gifts\nfrom your treasures?\n\nIf you say \"Yes,\" dear children, then remember that you have a treasure\nwhich the dear Lord Jesus wants above all else\u2014that is, the love of\nyour heart! Do not forget that we can make Jesus glad now, by giving\nHim that!\n\n\n\nIII. The Flight into Egypt\n\nI have told you about the wise men who saw the star of Jesus in the\nEast, and how King Herod heard of it and was very troubled.\n\nHerod was afraid that if the real King whom the godly Jews were\nexpecting to come very soon should be born, he would lose his throne;\nso he sent for the chief priests and scribes, who knew more about the\nScriptures than any one else, and asked them where Christ should be\nborn.\n\nThey told him at once that in the book of the prophet Micah it was\nforetold, 700 years before, that the Ruler of Israel should be born at\nBethlehem in the land of Judah.\n\nSo Herod sent the wise men to find the young Child, promising to come\nand worship Him too.\n\nBut the wise men were warned by God not to go back to Herod after they\nhad seen the Lord Jesus.\n\nThen Herod was so angry that he sent to Bethlehem and killed all the\nlittle baby boys he could find.\n\nBut God had taken care of the Lord Jesus, and before Herod's soldiers\ncould get to Bethlehem, He was far away!\n\nFor God had spoken to Joseph in a dream, and had told him to take the\nlittle Babe, and Mary His mother, right away down into Egypt, and to\nstay there till He sent him word.\n\nJoseph was a very good man, and obeyed God in all things.\n\nWhen the Angel told him to go down into Egypt, he arose at once, and\nset out in the night with Mary and the Babe on their journey.\n\nBy and by, when the wicked King Herod was dead, God sent an angel again\nto Joseph, and told him to take the little Child and His mother back to\nPalestine, directing him to go to Nazareth, so that the words of the\nprophet might be fulfilled: \"He shall be called a Nazarene.\"\n\nSo Joseph and Mary left Egypt and came back to Nazareth, \"that it might\nbe fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out\nof Egypt have I called my Son.\"\n\nWe must never forget, children, that Jesus is the Son of God! He became\na little child, and lived on earth as a man, in order that He might\ndie for us; but after His death on the cross, He rose from the grave,\nand went back to heaven, and there He is now, ready to help us at any\nmoment when we speak to Him. He is alive for evermore!\n\nNazareth was not a very good place, but the Holy Child Jesus was\nbrought up there for thirty years. He, who did no sin and was pure\nand good, lived in the midst of sinful people, so that He might be a\nholy pattern to all of us\u2014showing that we may be good with God's help\nwherever we are!\n\n\n\nIV. Found in the Temple\n\nIt is nice to think that the dear Lord Jesus was a boy, just the age\nthat you little boys and girls are to-day.\n\nAnd in His holy and blameless life, while He lived on this earth, we\nhave the great Example of how we ought to live too.\n\nThe Jews went up to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover Feast every\nyear, and when Jesus was twelve years old, Joseph went up to worship as\nother Jewish men did, and the mother of Jesus went too.\n\nA number of other people from the country villages travelled together,\nso that there was a very large company.\n\nWhen they all set out to go home again, Jesus stayed behind in\nJerusalem, and His mother and Joseph went a day's journey before they\nfound out that He was not with the rest of the travellers.\n\nBut when they could not find Him, they turned back again to Jerusalem,\nand looked for Him for three whole days.\n\n[Illustration: LISTENING TO THE LEARNED MEN AND ASKING THEM QUESTIONS.]\n\nAt length, they found Him in the Temple of God, listening to the\nlearned men and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were\nastonished at His understanding and His answers.\n\nThen His mother told Him how she and Joseph had looked for Him so long.\nAnd He gave them that gentle answer which, from the Son of God and the\nSon of man as He was, meant so much, \"How is it that you looked for Me?\nDid you not know that I must be about My Father's business?\"\n\nHe was speaking of His Heavenly Father, and of the glorious and loving\nwork which He had come on earth to do.\n\nHis mother Mary thought a great deal about His sayings, and though she\ncould not fully understand all that was going to happen, she watched\nher gentle Son with ever-increasing wonder and love, as she saw His\nobedience and wisdom, and how He grew towards manhood, loved and\npraised by all who knew Him.\n\nTo all children, just growing out of children into boys and girls, our\nblessed Lord's obedience comes as a great encouragement.\n\nThe Bible says He was \"subject\" to His parents; that means that He was\nalways ready to obey in His earthly home, and to live a quiet life in a\ncarpenter's shop in the lowly town of Nazareth!\n\n\n\nV. At Jordan\n\nJohn the Baptist had been sent by God to baptize the people for the\nremission of sins, and to tell them that the Lamb of God who was to\n\"take away the sin of the world\" was soon coming to live among them,\nand to be their Saviour.\n\n\"And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth . . .\nand was baptized of John in Jordan.\"\n\n\"And straightway coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened,\nand the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and there came a voice\nfrom heaven, saying, 'Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well\npleased.'\"\n\n\"And John saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God.\"\n\nSo now we know, children, what was happening all those eighteen years\nat Nazareth, while Jesus grew from a boy into a man.\n\nThe people at Nazareth were offended at Him, when, after His baptism,\nHe began to go about the country healing the sick, and teaching\nthe people about God; and they said, scornfully, \"Is not this the\nCarpenter?\"\n\nBut God gives us the whole history of those eighteen quiet years in one\nsentence\u2014\n\n   \"This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!\"\n\nWhen John saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, he had exclaimed,\u2014\n\n   \"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!\"\n\nAnd two of his disciples, hearing him speak, turned and followed Jesus.\n\nMay we hear those blessed words, and follow Him too!\n\n\n\nVI. \"Nazareth where He was brought up\"\n\nWhen the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived among men for thirty-three\nand a half years.\n\nWe have in the New Testament only little glimpses of His life during\nthe first thirty years.\n\nFirst as a little baby; then, as a boy of twelve, we see Him journeying\nto Jerusalem to be present at the Passover Feast, and we are told that\nwhen He returned home to Nazareth He \"was subject\" to His mother and\nJoseph, and obedient to them in all things.\n\n[Illustration: FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.]\n\nHere for eighteen quiet years Jesus lived learning the trade of a\ncarpenter, and working with His own blessed hands, making the simple\nthings that were used by the country people around Him\u2014seats, and\ntables, ploughs, and yokes for oxen.\n\nIs it not nice to think that Jesus knows all about making yokes!\n\nDo you not remember afterwards, how He said, \"Take My yoke upon you,\nand learn of ME . . . for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light\"?\n\nSo children, Jesus knows exactly all about the weight of \"the yoke\" you\nmay have to bear. Everybody has some trial or burden; but Jesus says,\nif you will come to Him, the yoke He has made for you will be light.\n\nI like to think that when He made yokes for the oxen, He made them as\ncomfortable and easy and light as they could possibly be made, so that\nno rough edge should gall the patient animal as he pulled the heavy\nplough!\n\nWhen Jesus was thirty years old, all the wonderful things began which\nwe read of in the Gospels.\n\nHis first public appearance was when He came to John the Baptist to be\nbaptized by him in the river Jordan, which we shall read about on the\nnext page.\n\nSoon after this He began His public ministry.\n\nOne Sabbath day, He went to the synagogue as was His custom, and stood\nup to read from the Holy Book.\n\nThe servant or attendant gave Him a roll of the Prophet Isaiah, and,\nwhen He had found the place, He began to read.\n\nAnd what do you think the Son of God, the Saviour of the World, read to\nexplain His great mission?\n\nHe read: \"The Lord . . . hath anointed Me to preach good tidings to the\npoor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted; to preach deliverance\nto the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at\nliberty them that are bruised.\"\n\nHe comes to each one of us first of all with the promise of\nforgiveness. His name means that!\n\n\"Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.\"\n\n\n\nVII. The Well at Nazareth\n\nIn the story belonging to the last picture, we heard how God sent an\nangel to Joseph in a dream, and told him to take the Lord Jesus and His\nmother away from Egypt, and to go back to their own city, Nazareth.\n\nOur next picture is of the public well at Nazareth, where people even\nto this very day go to draw all the water which they want.\n\nFor you know, children, that water is not \"laid on\" in eastern\ncountries, but has to be fetched from long distances in jars or skins.\n\nThe women and children generally do this; and the Lord Jesus when He\nwas a little boy must have gone daily to this well with His mother,\nkeeping her company in the long hot walks to and fro, and helping her\nto carry the jars of water back to their home.\n\nIf you were to go to Palestine, the land where Jesus lived, you would\nsee (besides, the women who come to the wells) the water-carriers, who\nhave large pig-skins supported by straps to their shoulders.\n\nThese they fill with water, and tie up the neck securely with a string;\nand then they carry the heavy skin to the next town or village; and as\nthey go along they call out\u2014\n\n\"Ho! Thirsty ones, come and buy water! Here is water! Do you want to\nbuy it?\"\n\nThen the people who have any money to spare, and who do not want to\nwalk the long distance to the well, come out to the water-carriers and\nhave their jars filled and pay for it.\n\nDo you remember what God says about that in the 55th chapter of Isaiah?\n\n\"Ho! Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath\nno money come and buy. Yea, come and buy wine and milk without money\nand without price.\"\n\nAh, children, God gives us His gifts without money and without price!\nThe \"Living Water\" which Jesus promises, we have only to ask of Him and\nwe shall be given it.\n\nFor Jesus is the Living Water Himself, and those who drink of that\nwater and have Jesus in their hearts, will find that He makes them\nhappy, and that having Him for their Saviour they have all they need!\n\nWe read of many wells in the Bible, and some of them are to be found\nnow.\n\nThere is \"Jacob's Well,\" where Jesus promised the Living Water to the\nwoman of Samaria; and there is this well at Nazareth, which is called\n\"Mary's Well\" now, because people feel sure that Mary, the dear mother\nof Jesus, must have drawn water at it when she lived at Nazareth.\n\nIt is nice to think that the feet of Jesus as a little child walked\nalong those roads; that His eyes rested on those very hills that\nsurround Nazareth; that He picked some of the countless flowers that\ngrow all over the fields and make a carpet of beautiful colours such as\nwe never see here.\n\nThis was the home of Jesus all the time He was a child; and here He\nlived every day, and watched Joseph at his work in his carpenter's\nshop. It was here that He lived an obedient, dutiful life, and grew\nin favour with God and with men. It was here He pleased His Heavenly\nFather in all things.\n\nIt is a nice thought, children, that whatever age you are, He was just\nthat age too; so that He knows what children's feelings are, and all\ntheir little trials or joys or temptations.\n\nHe lives in heaven now, it is true, but He is ready to help you if you\nlook up to Him.\n\nI do not mean looking up with your eyes, but with your heart and your\nthoughts.\n\nJust a little word or two spoken in Your heart will bring help from\nJesus!\n\nA little prayer of three words has made many a person happy when he was\nmiserable before.\n\n\"Lord help me!\" or \"Lord save me!\" will bring Jesus near in a moment;\nand He does help and save!\n\n\n\nVIII. At Bethany\n\nThere seems to have been one home especially where the Lord Jesus loved\nto visit.\n\nWe hear a great deal about the people who lived in this home, perhaps\nmore about them than any other of the friends of Jesus.\n\nTheir names were Lazarus, Martha and Mary.\n\nOne day the Lord Jesus was going about healing the sick, and teaching\npeople about His Heavenly Father, and in His journey He came to the\nvillage of Bethany, where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived.\n\nMartha was a very industrious, energetic woman, and when she saw Jesus\nand His disciples coming, I dare say she ran out to meet them, and\ninvited them into her house to have something to eat.\n\nShe bustled about and spread the table; she told her servants what to\nbring to set before the large company who had suddenly come to her; and\nwith joyful willingness she hurried to put before them whatever she\ncould think of to make them welcome.\n\nSuddenly her eyes fell upon her only sister, Mary. She was not bustling\nabout and getting the dinner ready; she was sitting near Jesus, eagerly\nlistening to His words, and satisfied to be in His presence.\n\nPoor Martha! She loved to hurry about and make Jesus welcome, but to\nhave her sister sit idle and enjoy to hear Him talk, was more than she\ncould bear.\n\nSo she got quite cross and vexed. She felt that it was too hard; and\nshe ran to Jesus and asked Him how it was He did not care that Mary had\nleft her all the work to do alone, and begged Him to bid Mary come and\nhelp her.\n\nAnd then Jesus turned to her and said those gentle words which have\nbeen a lesson to busy, bustling people all these hundreds of years:\n\"Martha, Martha, you are too much troubled over these many things; only\none thing is needful, and Mary has chosen the good part which shall\nnever be taken away from her.\"\n\n[Illustration: SHE WAS NEAR JESUS, EAGERLY LISTENING.]\n\nDo you ask, children, what that one thing is?\n\nIt is learning of Jesus, and hearing His voice.\n\nEven if everything else is lost to us, if we have Jesus we can be\nhappy. Even the poorest and most wretched person in the world, who has\nheard the voice of Jesus, has the \"one thing\" which will make him happy\nhere, and will give him endless joy by and by.\n\n\n\nIX. The Temptation\n\nDirectly after the Lord Jesus had been baptized, and God had spoken out\nof heaven saying He was His beloved Son, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into\nthe wilderness to be tempted by Satan.\n\nPerhaps you ask, dear children, \"Why must Jesus, the Holy One, be\ntempted by Satan?\"\n\nI think it was for two reasons: that He might be our perfect example in\neverything; and that He might show us the way to conquer Satan.\n\nIt says in the Bible Jesus was tempted in all points like we are!\n\nOne of Satan's temptations to Jesus in the wilderness was \"if He was\nthe Son of God,\" to make the stones into bread.\n\nJesus was very hungry, He had not had food for a long time; but Jesus\nwould not do what Satan asked Him. He said to Satan, that it was\nwritten in God's word \"that men were not to live by bread alone,\" but\nto please God first of all.\n\nYou will understand His wonderful answers to Satan's temptations as\nyou get older. But you can remember this now\u2014If Satan tells you to do\nwrong, tell him boldly in return, that \"Jesus is your Saviour, and He\ndied to save you.\"\n\nIt says in the Bible, \"His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall\nsave His people from their sins,\" and if you say to Satan the one word\n\"Jesus!\" you will find that he runs away.\n\n\n\nX. The Deep Well\n\nJesus was taking a long journey. He had to walk many, many miles, and\nat last, when He came near a large town called Samaria, He sent His\ndisciples on in front to buy food.\n\nHe was very tired, and while He waited for them, He sat down to rest by\nthe well which, hundreds of years before, Jacob had dug, which has been\ncalled ever since Jacob's Well.\n\nPresently a woman from the town came with her pitcher to draw some\nwater. As it was twelve o'clock in the day, the sun Was very hot, and\nthe dear Lord Jesus was very thirsty.\n\nWhen the woman came close to the well, He asked her to give Him some\nwater to drink. But she was so busy with her own thoughts, that she\ntold Him she was surprised that He should ask her for anything, as the\nJews were not friendly with the people of Samaria.\n\nJesus did not answer that; for His loving heart knew all about her, and\nhow she needed a Saviour to save her from her sins.\n\nSo He said to her something like this\u2014\n\n   \"If you knew what a wonderful gift God has to give you, and Who it is\n that has asked you to give Him drink, you would have asked Him instead,\n and He would have given you living water.\"\n\nThe woman could not understand this at all. She saw that Jesus had\nnothing to draw with, and she knew that Jacob's Well was very deep.\nWhat could He mean by living water?\n\nThen Jesus told her that if any one came to Him for this living water,\nhe would never be thirsty again, but would have everlasting life!\n\nThe woman began to think that it would be very nice not to be thirsty\nany more, so she asked Jesus to give her this water; but she did not\nknow that she was talking to the Son of God, Who gives the Holy Spirit;\nshe only thought of her many hot journeys to and from the well.\n\nAnd now the Lord has to show her that it is something much better than\nreal water that He wants her to have. He explains to her that she is a\nsinner, and He tells her so much about her past life, which she thought\nnobody knew, that she begins to guess that Jesus must be the Christ\nwhom the Jews were expecting to come into the world.\n\nThen Jesus said, \"I, that speak unto thee, am He.\"\n\nThe woman was so surprised, and so glad, that she left her waterpot and\nran back to the town to tell her neighbours all about her wonderful\nSaviour.\n\nSo numbers of them came out to find Jesus, and many believed on Him,\nnot only because the woman had said that Jesus had told her all that\never she did, but because they heard from His own loving lips the words\nwhich brought them everlasting life.\n\n\n\nXI. \"Suffer Little Children to come unto Me\"\n\nA number of people are pressing round the dear Lord Jesus!\n\nThe mothers have heard how kind He is, and how He is doing good to\neverybody who comes to Him, and they are anxious that their little ones\nshall be blessed too.\n\nSo they take their babes in their arms, and their toddling children by\nthe hand, and lead them to where they know the Lord Jesus is.\n\nWhen the little ones see His loving face, they are not a bit afraid.\nThey run to Him, sure that He will not refuse them, and when they come\nto Him, Jesus takes them up in His arms, puts His hands upon them, and\nblesses them.\n\nThe men who are following the dear Lord Jesus, think that the little\nchildren will be a trouble to Him, so they tell the mothers to take the\nlittle ones away; but we read that Jesus was much displeased, and said,\n\"Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of\nsuch is the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\nYes, Jesus said, when He was here walking about in our world, \"Let the\nchildren come unto Me, and do not forbid them\"; and now He is gone\nto be with His Father in heaven, He says just the same to all of you\nlittle ones. \"Come to Me!\" He says every day.\n\nHe is here in spirit, just as much as He was then, and He wants you to\nlove Him with all your loving little hearts.\n\nHe loves you so much that He cares about everything that happens to\nyou. He cares whether you are happy, He is sorry if you are naughty,\nand He is glad when you are good. He loves to have you do anything to\nplease Him, and His dear eyes see you all day long, and He will help\nyou to please Him if you ask Him.\n\nBesides all this, the Lord Jesus has died on the cross, to bear the\npunishment of your sins, instead of you.\n\nShould you not think it very kind if a little brother were to offer to\nbe punished instead of the one who had done wrong?\n\nThat is what Jesus did. He took upon Himself the sin of the whole\nworld, that whoever trusts Him and comes to Him, may be forgiven, and\nmay go at last to live with Him, and with God our Heavenly Father, in\nthat bright and beautiful home which He is getting ready for all who\nlove Him.\n\nPerhaps you ask, \"Why does Jesus want you to come to Him?\"\n\nWhen you have been naughty and are sorry, why does mother hold out her\nloving arms to you?\n\nIs it not that you may run into there and be forgiven and comforted? Is\nit not because she loves you?\n\nDoes she not wipe away your tears, and tell you that she will not think\nof your fault any more?\n\nDoes she not take you with her about the house, or in the garden, and\nshow you by her manner how glad she is that you have come to her for\nforgiveness, and that you are going to try to do better?\n\nWell, that is just a little bit like the love of Jesus.\n\nHe wishes you to come to Him, that you may have happiness and joy.\n\nHe wants you to live with Him all day long, and walk about by His side;\nto go to Him in every trouble; to ask His help in anything difficult.\n\nYou cannot see Him yet, but He is close to you all the time, and He can\nsee you and hear you in an instant when you speak to Him.\n\nBy and by He will give you endless pleasures at His right hand for\nevermore.\n\n   \"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,\n    Look upon a little child;\n    Pity my simplicity,\n    Suffer me to come to Thee.\n\n   \"Fain I would to Thee be brought,\n    Blessed Lord, forbid it not:\n    In the kingdom of Thy grace\n    Give a little child a place.\"\n\n\n\nXII. \"Follow Me\"\n\nSoon after Jesus had chosen Peter and James and John as His disciples,\nHe was walking near the lake of Gennesaret when He saw Matthew sitting\nat the place where the people had to pay taxes.\n\nFor Matthew was not a fisherman, like the others, but was a taxgatherer\nemployed by the Romans to collect money from the Jews.\n\nThese taxgatherers were very much disliked, as they often took more\nmoney than they ought, and kept it for themselves, so that the Jews\nhated them and dreaded to see them coming.\n\nBut the Lord Jesus chooses disciples from all sorts of people. He does\nnot wait till we are good, to call us to follow Him; but He says to us,\njust where we are, at school, at work, at play, in the street, in the\nhome, in the shop, \"Follow Me.\"\n\nAnd these words mean, \"Keep close to Me, where you can see Me and speak\nto Me. And if you keep close to Me, by and by when I lead the way into\nMy glory in Heaven, you, if you are following Me, shall come with Me\nand share all I have.\"\n\nSo Jesus called Matthew the publican; and Matthew heard His call, and\nrose up, and left all and came after Jesus.\n\nDear children, if we hear Jesus calling us, let us leave behind\nanything that would displease Him, and tell Him we are ready to follow\nHim wherever He may lead.\n\n\n\nXIII. Lazarus\n\nNot so very long after the supper where Martha had served, her brother\nLazarus fell sick and died.\n\nWe are told that \"Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,\" and\nyet He let him die!\n\nAh, how often have those whom Jesus loves, to trust Him through the\nvery hardest thing that could happen to them!\n\nJesus was not there when Lazarus fell ill, and though they sent to Him\nto tell Him, He did not go to them at once, but stayed where He was for\ntwo more days. In the meantime Lazarus died, and was buried.\n\nAt length Jesus told His disciples that He would go to Bethany.\n\nWhen they got near to where Lazarus lived, Martha heard that Jesus was\ncoming, and hurried out to meet Him with the words, \"Lord, if you had\nbeen here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever you\nask of God, God will give it to you.\"\n\nThen Jesus told her that Lazarus would rise again; and Martha showed\nher faith in answering that she knew he would rise at the last day. And\nagain Jesus questioned her with these wonderful resurrection words,\n\"Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou\nthis?\"\n\nAnd Martha gave one of the most wonderful answers that we read in the\nBible: \"Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God,\nwhich should come into the world.\"\n\nBlessed Martha! She had found the one thing needful!\n\nSo by and by they come to Bethany, and Jesus sent for Mary to come from\nthe house of mourning to Him.\n\nAnd Mary's first words were the same as Martha's, \"Lord, if you had\nbeen here, my brother had not died.\"\n\nOh, the compassion of Jesus! He knew that soon their sorrow would\nbe turned into joy, but when He saw them all weeping. He was very\ntroubled, and wept too.\n\nAnd so they come to the grave; and Jesus told them to take away the\nstone. The Martha reminded Him that Lazarus had been dead four days.\n\nBut Jesus answered her, \"Did I not say to you, that, if you would\nbelieve, you should see the glory of God?\"\n\nAnd Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, \"Father, I thank Thee that Thou\nhast heard Me . . . that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.\"\n\nAnd then He called with a loud voice, \"Lazarus, come forth!\" And the\ndead man came forth, bound with graveclothes and Jesus said to them,\n\"Loose him, and let him go.\"\n\nOh, how happy those sisters were! Did not Martha, indeed, see the glory\nof God, as Jesus had said?\n\n\n\nXIV. The Widow's Mite\n\nOne day, very shortly before our dear Lord was crucified, He was\nteaching in God's Temple at Jerusalem and preaching the gospel.\n\nHe had been warning the people against the scribes, who loved to seem\nvery good and to be thought well of, who chose the highest seats in the\nsynagogues and the chief rooms at feasts, who made long prayers for a\nshow, and who oppressed poor widows and took away their houses.\n\nThe Lord looked straight into people's hearts, and He could not bear\nfor the scribes to seem very good outside and to be very wicked inside!\n\nJesus was sitting near the treasury, which was the chest or receptacle\nin which the people put their offerings of money for God's service.\n\nAfter He had been speaking about those scribes that oppressed the\nwidows, He raised His eyes and saw the people casting their gifts into\nthe treasury; and many that were rich cast in much.\n\n[Illustration: JUST THEN A POOR WIDOW DREW NEAR.]\n\nAnd just then a poor widow drew near, and she put in two mites, which\nmake a farthing.\n\nJesus saw it all! He could see into her empty pocket; He knew all about\nit!\n\nThen He called His disciples to Him and said to them, \"This poor widow\nhas cast more in than all the others who have cast into the treasury:\nfor they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast\nin all that she had, even all her living!\"\n\nThere is another widow we read of, who gave all her living to God!\nThe account is in 1 Kings xvii. God sent the prophet Elijah to her in\na time of famine. When he got to where the widow lived, he found her\ngathering a few sticks to make a fire to bake the last bit of bread\nthat she had!\n\nSo Elijah called to her to fetch him a little water. He was nearly\ndying of thirst, and as she ran to fetch it, he begged her also to\nbring him a morsel of bread too.\n\nBut she told him that she only had a tiny bit of meal left in the\nbarrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and this she was going to make\ninto a little cake for her and her son, and when they had eaten that,\nshe said, they must die!\n\nBut Elijah said some words like these to her: \"Fear not . . . make me\na little cake first, and bring it to me . . . for thus saith the Lord\nGod of Israel, You shall always find a little meal in the barrel, and a\nlittle oil in the cruse as long as the famine lasts!\"\n\nAnd she believed God's promise, and went and did as Elijah had said;\nand she and Elijah and her son had enough to eat for many days.\n\n\n\nXV. \"Do this in Remembrance of Me\"\n\nVery soon after this, just before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus\nknew that the hour had come that He was to die, and to go back to His\nFather, He wished to do one last act of love to His disciples, because\n\"He loved them to the uttermost.\"\n\nAnd supper being ended, Jesus rose up and taking a towel He poured\nwater into a basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples.\n\nThis astonished them very much, and when it came to Peter's turn, he\nsaid, \"Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?\"\n\nThen Jesus said to him something like this, \"You cannot understand what\nI am doing now, Peter, but you shall understand by and by.\"\n\nBut Peter said to Jesus, \"Thou shalt never wash my feet!\"\n\nAnd Jesus answered him, \"If I do not wash you, Peter, you have no part\nwith Me.\"\n\nSo Peter at last let Jesus wash his feet; but he asked Him to wash his\nhands too, and his head. I think he meant that he wanted to be made\nwholly clean!\n\nJesus is our perfect example, and though He was their Lord and Master,\nHe did for them what was the office of the servants in the East, that\nthey might hereafter remember that there is no act, however lowly, that\nthey should be unwilling to perform for one of His disciples.\n\nThis loving example has helped thousands of the followers of Jesus to\ngo into prisons and hospitals; or to minister to the sick in crowded,\nwretched rooms, where dirt and misery abound; that they may brighten\nand cleanse them, and bring a little, to the poor suffering inmates, of\nthat love of Jesus which loves to the uttermost, and \"is able to save\nto the uttermost, those that come unto God by Him.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now the hour for the Passover Feast had come, and Jesus sat down,\nthe twelve apostles with Him, and He told them that with a great desire\nHe had longed to eat that Passover with them before He suffered.\n\nDear children, you have often heard of the Communion of the Lord's\nSupper, and some of you may have been with your parents, and may have\nseen it.\n\nBut now I am going to tell you about the first time the Lord's Supper\nwas held.\n\nEver since that time for nearly nineteen hundred years, the people who\nlove the Lord Jesus have met together \"to remember Him\" as He told\nthem; and those who love Him are told to do this, till He comes back\nagain to take us to His heavenly home.\n\nSo that night \"in which He was betrayed\" this was how our dear Lord\ngave us this last command.\n\n\"And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,\nsaying, 'This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance\nof Me.'\n\n\"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New\nTestament in My blood which is shed for you.'\n\n\"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.\"\n\nAnd Jesus said to them, \"All ye shall be offended because of Me this\nnight: for it is written, 'I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep\nshall be scattered!'\"\n\nBut in His great forgiving love, though Jesus knew they would all\nforsake Him, He gave them the promise, that when He was risen from the\ndead He would go before them to Galilee, and there they should see Him\nagain.\n\n[Illustration: THE CITY ON A HILL.]\n\n\n\nXVI. The Lame Man Leaping\n\nActs iii. 8\n\nOne day, very soon after the Holy Spirit had been sent down to give\npower to the disciples, Peter and John, as their custom was, went up\ninto the Temple to pray.\n\nIt was what was called the ninth hour, our three o'clock in the\nafternoon, and was \"the hour of prayer\" in Jerusalem.\n\nPeter and John climbed up the many steps that led to the Temple, and\nreached the gate called the Beautiful Gate.\n\nSome one else had come up those many steps, too; but he had not walked.\nHe had been lame all his life, and daily his friends carried him up\nthat long way, to lay him in the Beautiful Gate.\n\nWhat do you think they took all that trouble for? It was that the poor\nlame man might ask for money of the passersby who went up to pray.\n\nHe had no means of providing for himself, and, like many other sick and\nhelpless people, he lay there hour after hour, holding out his hand to\nreceive the coins which the pity of the passersby made them give him.\n\nAs he saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he begged them to\nhave pity on him in his poverty.\n\nThen Peter, knowing that within him rested the great power of God, said\nto the lame man, \"Look on us!\"\n\nThe poor man eagerly obeyed, thinking they were not going to pass on\nwithout showing him some kindness.\n\nHe was quite right. Peter at once said: \"I have not any silver or\ngold! But what I have, I will give you! In the Name of Jesus Christ of\nNazareth, rise up and walk!\" And he took him by the right hand, and\nlifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were given\nstrength, and the man, who had been a cripple for more than forty\nyears, walked and leapt, and went with Peter and John into the Temple,\nwalking and leaping and praising God!\n\nThen all the people, who knew all about this lame man for so many\nyears, were filled with amazement at what had happened to him. For the\nlame man held Peter and John, and all the people ran together into\nSolomon's Porch to see the wonderful sight. But Peter told them, at\nonce, that it was not by their own power that they had made this man\nwell, but because God had glorified His Son Jesus, and that it was\nthrough faith in His Name that he had been given this perfect soundness.\n\nAnd then he told these wondering, amazed Jews, that it was their God,\n\"the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,\" who had sent Jesus to earth\nto bless them, and to turn away every one of them from their sins.\n\nAnd that blessed Name of Jesus has the same power now to help and save\nall who look to Him. Forgiveness, strength, comfort, and help can\nbelong to those who will trust Him!\n\n\n\nXVII. Gethsemane\n\nMany, many hundreds of years ago, the Easter full moon was shining down\nin all its beauty on a garden near Jerusalem.\n\nThis garden was called Gethsemane and I should think that every one\nwho loves the Lord Jesus, and who knows about His great agony in that\ngarden, must love the very name of the place, and remember with very\ntender feelings all He bore for our sakes.\n\nEvery Easter now, when the moon shines so sweetly, we can recall that\nnight on which our dear Lord was betrayed, and we can ask Him to help\nus to watch and pray that we may not enter into temptation.\n\nHe had just eaten the Passover Supper with His disciples; He had told\nthem and us, to \"do this, as oft as ye take it, in remembrance of ME,\"\nand then, after they had sung a hymn, or psalm, they went down the\nsteep path from one of the gates leading out of Jerusalem, to go to the\nMount of Olives.\n\nJust at the bottom of the valley there lay the Garden of Gethsemane;\nand the Lord Jesus, who knew all that was going to happen to Him the\nnext day,\u2014how He would be mocked and beaten and crucified\u2014wanted to\npray to His Heavenly Father before He was betrayed into the hands of\nthe Jews.\n\nSo He turned into the garden beneath the olive trees, telling some of\nHis disciples to wait outside, but taking Peter and James and John into\nthe garden with Him.\n\nHe was very, very sorrowful, so He bade them wait near Him and watch.\nThen He went a little further on, and fell on the ground and prayed to\nHis Father that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from Him.\n\nHe knew that all things were possible with God, but He did not want\nto have His own will, if His dear Father in Heaven wished anything\ndifferent. He had come to earth to do His will perfectly.\n\nThen after His prayer, He rose and went to His disciples. But he found\nthem asleep! They had not watched as He bade them.\n\nSo He said to Peter, \"Simon, sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one\nhour?\"\n\nAnd then He told them to watch and pray lest they should enter into\ntemptation.\n\nHe said He knew they were willing to do it, but they had tired bodies,\nand this made it the more necessary to be watchful.\n\nSo He went away again and prayed to His Father in an agony that the\nbitter cup might pass from Him.\n\nWe cannot fully understand all that is meant by that bitter cup. It is\nenough for us to know that our blessed Lord dreaded it above everything.\n\nBut even in the midst of that misery, He could say, \"Oh, My Father, if\nthis cup may not pass away from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done!\"\n\nAnd there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.\n\nStill again a third time He went away and prayed the same prayer, but\nall the while His disciples were fast asleep!\n\nAt last Jesus rose up from prayer, and when He came to His disciples\nHe told them that now He was going to be betrayed into the hands of\nsinners.\n\nAs He was speaking, a great band of men, led by wicked Judas, came\nhurrying into the garden.\n\nNow Judas had said to the chief priests (when he sold Jesus to them for\nthirty pieces of silver), \"Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He;\nhold Him fast.\"\n\nThe Lord Jesus, who is God as well as man, could easily have escaped\nfrom their cruel hands. He told them He could have prayed to His\nFather, and He would have sent Him thousands and thousands of angels.\n\nThe band of men and officers from the chief priests were so amazed at\nthe majesty of Jesus, that they went backward and fell to the ground.\n\nBut Jesus was ready to die for us; for how else could we be saved?\n\nThen they took Jesus prisoner, and bound Him and led Him away to the\npalace of the High Priest.\n\nAnd as He was led away from Gethsemane, He said to Peter those\nmemorable words of love and submission\u2014\"The cup which My Father hath\ngiven Me, shall I not drink it?\"\n\nHe knew that the Cross to which He was going was His Father's Will! For\nhad He not said Himself, to the people?\u2014\n\n   \"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,\n that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting\n life.\"\n\n\n\nXVIII. The Trial\n\nWhen Judas had betrayed the Lord Jesus with a kiss, and the band of\nsoldiers and officers were going to take Him away, Peter tried to\ndefend Jesus by drawing his sword, and he smote one of the servants of\nthe High Priest and cut off his ear.\n\nBut Jesus did not wish His disciples to fight for Him with swords, and\nHe told Peter to put it up in the sheath again; and then, in His love\nand compassion, He healed the man's ear.\n\nAnd Jesus said to the soldiers, \"Are you come out as if I were a thief,\nwith swords and staves to take me? I was with you every day in the\nTemple, teaching you, and you did not take Me; but the Scriptures must\nbe fulfilled.\"\n\nThen all His disciples forsook Him and fled.\n\nJesus is the Good Shepherd; and now it had come to the time when He was\ngoing to lay down His life for the sheep.\n\nBut oh! How sad it must have made Him, to have all His disciples run\naway from Him!\n\nThen the soldiers bound Him and led Him away.\n\nBut after the first moment of fear and dismay, John, the beloved\ndisciple, ran to follow his Master, and the crowd tried to prevent his\ngoing after Jesus. But he managed to escape from them, and presently\nhe reached the High Priest's house, and, as he was known to the High\nPriest, he went in with Jesus into the palace.\n\nBut Peter was left in the garden, and he followed afar off, even into\nthe palace of the High Priest, and sat with the servants and warmed\nhimself at the fire.\n\nWhen the whole band had brought Jesus into the palace, they found there\nall the chief priests, and the elders, and the scribes.\n\nThen the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against\nJesus to put Him to death; but found none.\n\nThere were many false witnesses who gave evidence against Him, but they\nall contradicted each other.\n\nAll this time Jesus stood silent, listening to their false charges, but\nnot answering a word.\n\nAt last the High Priest exclaimed, \"Answerest thou nothing? What is it\nthat these witness against thee?\"\n\nBut Jesus held His peace, and answered nothing.\n\nThen the High Priest asked Him a question which Jesus answered.\n\nHe said, \"Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?\"\n\nAnd Jesus said, \"I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the\nright hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.\"\n\nThen the High Priest tore his clothes, and said there was no need to\nexamine any more witnesses, for they had heard Him say Himself that He\nwas the Son of God.\n\n[Illustration: THEN THE HIGH PRIEST TORE HIS CLOTHES.]\n\nAnd for this they all condemned Him to be guilty of death.\n\n\n\nXIX. The King of the Jews\n\nWhen the chief priests of the Jews had determined to kill the Lord\nJesus, after examining Him for many hours on the dreadful night when\nall His disciples had forsaken Him and Peter had denied Him, they\nconsulted together as to how they could carry out their wicked plan.\n\nThe morning dawned before they had decided what to do; and at length,\nas they did not like to put Him to death themselves, they thought the\nbest way would be to take Him to Pilate the Roman governor, for they\nthought that he would do what they wished.\n\nThe Jews and the High Priest had asked Jesus whether He was really\nthe Christ, the Son of God; and the Lord Jesus, to leave them without\nexcuse, told them plainly that He was, and that hereafter they would\nsee Him sitting in heaven, and coming back to earth in the clouds.\n\nAt this they had been fearfully angry, and had torn their clothes, and\nhad bound Him and led Him away to Pilate, in the hopes that Pilate\nwould at once order Him to be put to death.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow we are told in Matthew's Gospel that Judas, who had betrayed his\nMaster with a kiss, saw Jesus led away to Pilate. He knew by this that\nthe chief priests had condemned Him to death, and, too late, Judas\nrepented of the wicked thing he had done.\n\nJesus had told the disciples when they sat down to the Passover supper,\nthat one of them should betray Him, and Judas had asked, among the\nrest, \"Lord, is it I?\" And Jesus had told him, that though He must die\nto save the world, yet it was woe to the man who should betray Him.\n\nBut Judas thought of the thirty pieces of silver which he was going to\nearn for doing this sad deed, and he left the supper table and went out\ninto the dark night.\n\nJudas had made his decision against Jesus!\n\nOh, children! Let our decision be for Jesus! All through our lives, let\nour one purpose be that He shall be our Lord and our King. We shall not\nbe sorry by and by that we have decided so.\n\nBut Judas had made his evil choice; he had set going a thing which he\ncould not now stop. And when he realized that the chief priests had\nreally condemned Jesus, Judas would have given everything he possessed\nto undo what he had done. But it was too late.\n\nHe hurried back to the chief priests with the money in his hand, and he\nexclaimed, \"I have sinned; I have betrayed the innocent One!\"\n\nBut they said, \"What is that to us? You must see to that!\"\n\nSo he threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple, and went\nand hanged himself.\n\nOh, poor Judas! What good was his money to him then? \"What shall it\nprofit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?\"\n\nThen the chief priests took up the silver and consulted as to what they\nshould do with it, because it was \"the price of blood,\" and they might\nnot put it into God's Treasury; and they decided to buy a field, called\nthe Potter's field, to bury strangers in. And that field was called\n\"the Field of Blood\" ever afterwards. We read in the Bible that, five\nhundred years before that, it was foretold by the prophet Zechariah\nthat all these things should be done, when Jesus was sold for thirty\npieces of silver.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo Jesus was brought before Pilate, and stood there in all His majesty\nand humility, and Pilate asked Him, \"Art Thou the King of the Jews?\"\nAnd Jesus again left no excuse to those who condemned Him. Though He\nhad answered nothing when the false witnesses spoke against Him, though\nHe answered nothing now when the chief priests and elders accused Him,\nyet, to give Pilate an opportunity of believing and accepting Him, He\nanswered him at once\u2014\n\n   \"You have said what I am\u2014a King. To this end was I born, and for this\n cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth.\"\n\nThen Pilate told the chief priests that he found no fault in Him.\n\nWhen Pilate found it impossible to quiet the chief priests, though he\ntold them he could find no fault in Jesus, he decided to send Him to\nHerod, who was at Jerusalem at that time.\n\nAnd when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, because he had heard of\nHim, and hoped to have seen a miracle done by Him.\n\nSo he asked Jesus a great many questions, but He answered him nothing.\n\nAnd the chief priests stood and vehemently accused Him.\n\nAnd Herod and his soldiers mocked Him and arrayed Him in a gorgeous\nrobe, and sent Him again to Pilate.\n\nNow at the feast of the Passover, the Roman governor pleased the Jews\nby setting free a prisoner whomsoever they asked for. So, because\nPilate did not like the Jews, and knew that they had delivered Jesus\nup for envy, he offered to release to them Barabbas, who was a great\nrobber, or \"Jesus who was called Christ\"?\n\nSo Pilate went back to the judgment-seat and sat down. And it was quite\nearly morning yet.\n\nThen his wife sent down in haste to him to have nothing to do with\ncondemning Jesus, because she had had a dreadful dream, and she knew\nthat Jesus was a just man.\n\nBut the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they\nshould ask for Barabbas.\n\nPilate was sure that Jesus was not worthy of any punishment; but when\nhe found that the Jews were raising a great tumult, and that they\ncharged Pilate with not being C\u00e6sar's friend, if he allowed Jesus to be\nthe King of the Jews, Pilate was afraid.\n\nHe was more afraid of the Jews than of God! And so poor Pilate made his\ngreat decision. And he, like Judas, made it on the wrong side!\n\nSo he called for water, and when it was brought to him, he washed his\nhands before all the people, saying, \"I am innocent of the blood of\nthis just person: see ye to it.\"\n\nThen Pilate said to them, mockingly, \"Shall I crucify your King?\"\n\nBut they cried the more exceedingly, \"Crucify Him, crucify Him!\"\n\nAnd the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.\n\nThen Pilate released Barabbas to them, and when he had scourged Jesus,\nhe delivered Him to be crucified.\n\n\n\nXX. The Soldiers Mocked Him\n\nSo when Pilate had sentenced Him to be crucified the governor's\nsoldiers took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered together the\nrest of the soldiers, and began to mock at the dear Lord whom we love\nso much.\n\nThey clothed Him with a purple robe, and they plaited a crown of long\nsharp thorns and put it on His loving head, and then they put a reed in\nHis hand and bowed down to Him, and mocked Him saying, \"Hail, King of\nthe Jews!\"\n\nJesus did not mind being called the King of the Jews, because He came\non earth to be their King; He was only sorry that they would not love\nHim, or have Him for their King and Saviour.\n\nAh, how it must have cut Him to the heart in all His pain, to have them\nmock Him, and beat Him on the head, and spit upon Him, and pretend to\nworship Him.\n\nIf our hearts are filled with grief that He could have suffered so\nmuch, should we not love Him more than ever; and turn away from the\nsins which He died on purpose to save us from?\n\nSo Pilate went outside again, and said to the Jews, \"Behold, I bring\nHim forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.\"\n\nThen Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns, and Pilate said,\n\"Behold the man!\"\n\nBut the Jews burst out again with the cry, \"Crucify Him!\"\n\nAnd Pilate said, \"Why, what evil hath He done?\"\n\nBut the Jews told Pilate that Jesus had made Himself equal with God,\nand so He must die.\n\nThen Pilate was more afraid than ever, and went again into the hall,\nand asked Jesus where He had come from?\n\nBut Jesus gave him no answer.\n\nAt length the Jews clamoured so loudly, and told Pilate that he was not\nC\u00e6sar's friend, that though Pilate longed to release Jesus, when he\nheard them say that, he gave in to them, and brought Jesus forth for\nthe last time, saying to them, \"Behold your King!\"\n\nAnd they all cried out, \"Away with Him, crucify Him!\"\n\n   \"The head that once was crowned with thorns\n      Is crowned with glory now:\n    A royal diadem adorns\n      The mighty Victor's brow.\n\n   \"The highest place that heaven affords\n      Is His, is His by right:\n    The King of kings, and Lord of lords,\n      And heaven's eternal light.\"\n\n\n\nXXI. Jesus Carrying His Cross\n\nAnd after they had mocked Jesus, they took off the gorgeous robe in\nwhich Herod and his soldiers had dressed Him, and they put His own\nclothes on Him again, and led Him away to crucify Him.\n\nAnd Jesus\u2014the King of glory\u2014went forth, carrying the cross on which He\nwas to be crucified for us!\n\nThus our dear Lord left the city where He had been rejected and\ncondemned, bearing His heavy, cruel cross.\n\nI think He must have fainted beneath its weight, for we are told that\nwhen they came to the gate of the city, they met a man, Simon the\nCyrenian, coming in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to\ncarry the cross after Jesus.\n\nA great multitude came out after them, and the women who had followed\nand loved Jesus were mourning and grieving at their dear Lord's\nsorrowful fate.\n\nBut Jesus turned to them and told them not to cry for Him, but for all\nthe sorrow which was coming upon Jerusalem because the Jews would not\nhave Him for their Saviour.\n\n[Illustration: HE MUST HAVE FAINTED BENEATH ITS WEIGHT.]\n\nAnd there were two other men led out with Jesus to be crucified at the\nsame time. They were called malefactors, because they had been very\nwicked.\n\nSo the whole great company went outside the city walls, and they bring\nJesus to a place called \"The Skull.\" They offered our dear Lord some\nwine and myrrh to drink, but, when He had tasted it, He would not take\nit.\n\nThen they crucified Jesus, our King, and the two malefactors, one on\nthe right hand and the other on the left, and Jesus in the midst.\n\nChildren, in all His dreadful sufferings and sorrow, what is it we hear\nfrom those dear lips?\n\nThen Jesus said,\u2014\n\n   \"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\"\n\n\n\nXXII. The Cross of Jesus\n\nWe pause at this picture, dear children, with awe and reverence, and as\nwe gaze upon it our hearts are filled with love and grief.\n\n\"Did Jesus bear that cruel death for me?\" we whisper to ourselves. \"Was\nmy name on His heart when He hung all those hours on the cross? Were\nmy sins pardoned by His most precious blood, which flowed from His\nbleeding side?\"\n\nIf we can answer a solemn \"yes\" to these questions, then the cross of\nJesus our Saviour is the place where henceforth we can find joy, and\nthankfulness, and strength.\n\nOn the cross where Jesus was crucified, a piece of parchment was\nnailed. This was generally done, so that people should know what the\ncrime was for which any one was to suffer this cruel death.\n\nBut Pilate had nothing to charge Jesus with. He had said over and over\nagain, \"I find no fault in Him.\" And when he sat down to write His\naccusation on the parchment, he wrote\u2014\n\n   \"Jesus of Nazareth\u2014the King of the Jews.\"\n\nThis writing was read by many of the Jews, because the place where\nJesus was crucified was near to the city, and many were passing\nbackwards and forwards at this Passover feast time.\n\nAnd Pilate wrote it in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.\n\nThe Jews did not at all like what Pilate had written, and wanted him to\ntake the writing down. They said, \"Do not say that He is the King of\nthe Jews! But say, He said He was.\"\n\nBut Pilate would not alter it. \"What I have written, I have written,\"\nhe said.\n\n[Illustration: CALVARY.]\n\nSo when Jesus died, He had only this accusation\u2014that He is King!\n\nAnd the people stood beholding.\n\nThey saw the four soldiers carry away His raiment, to divide it between\nthem. But when the soldiers found that His coat, or under-robe, was\nseamless and woven in one piece, they cast lots for that; so that the\nScripture, written hundreds of years before, might be fulfilled, \"They\nparted My raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.\"\nThese things, therefore, the soldiers did.\n\nThen the rulers who were standing by mocked Him, saying, \"He saved\nothers, why did He not save Himself and come down from the cross?\"\n\nDear children, do you know why Jesus did not come down from the cross?\n\n   \"He knew how wicked man had been,\n    He knew that God must punish sin;\n    So, out of pity, Jesus said\n    He'd bear the punishment instead.\n\n   \"And so He died! And this is why\n    He came to earth to bleed and die:\n    The Bible says He came from heaven,\n    That we might have our sins forgiven.\"\n\nPerhaps some of you may think that the cruel nails held His dear hands\nand feet so fast that He could not come down?\n\nBut that was not the reason\u2014oh no!\n\nIt was love that made Him stay there\u2014love to you and to me. He stayed\nthere that He might die for us, that His precious blood should be shed\nto pay the price for our sins.\n\nThe two thieves who were crucified on either side of Jesus, joined with\nthe Jews in reproaching Him; but after a while one of them began to\nthink of Him as He hung there in all His patience and love, and he was\nsorry that he had spoken against Him. He rebuked the other thief, and\ntold him that they both were condemned justly, \"but this Man hath done\nnothing amiss,\" he said.\n\nAnd then we can picture him, turning his poor suffering face towards\nthe loving Saviour who hung beside him, and we can almost hear him\nsaying, \"Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!\"\n\nAnd Jesus answered and said, \"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise!\"\n\nAh! He was the King of Love! Not a reproach to that sinful man; not\na word that now it was too late; nothing but love and cheer and\ntenderness. \"Verily I say unto thee, To-day, thou shalt be with Me in\nParadise!\"\n\nOh, does not this tender Jesus make your heart grow warm with love?\n\nThough He was racked with pain, He could cheer one who was suffering by\nHim; though He was dying for the sins of the whole world, He could save\none single soul who turned to Him in faith.\n\nGod sent a great darkness over all the land from twelve o'clock till\nthree o'clock, while His holy Son was dying on the cross.\n\nNo one can tell all the depth of woe and loneliness which Jesus\nsuffered while the load of our sins rested upon Him; but the more we\nunderstand it, the more we shall love Him for His great love.\n\n   \"When I survey the wondrous cross\n    On which the Prince of Glory died,\n    My richest gain I count but loss,\n    And pour contempt on all my pride.\n\n   \"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast\n    Save in the death of Christ my God:\n    All the vain things that charm me most,\n    I sacrifice them to His blood.\n\n   \"See from His head, His hands, His feet,\n    Sorrow and love flow mingled down:\n    Did e'er such love and sorrow meet?\n    Or thorns compose so rich a crown?\n\n   \"Were the whole realm of nature mine,\n    That were an offering far too small:\n    Love so amazing, so divine,\n    Demands my soul, my life, my all.\n\n   \"To Christ, who won for sinners grace\n    By bitter grief and anguish sore,\n    Be praise from all the ransomed race\n    For ever and for evermore.\"\n\nNow there were standing by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His\nmother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.\n\nWhen Jesus saw His mother, and John, the disciples whom He loved,\nstanding there, He charged him to take care of His dear mother; and\nJohn took her to his own home from that hour.\n\nAnd now everything was done which the Scriptures had said should\nhappen; and Jesus, knowing this, said, \"I thirst!\"\n\nAnd one ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop, and\nput it to His mouth.\n\nAnd when Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, \"It is finished!\" And\nHe gave up His spirit into His Father's keeping; and then He died.\n\n\n\nXXIII. The Sealed Tomb\n\nNow when the centurion who was in charge of the soldiers who crucified\nJesus, saw all the things that had happened\u2014His wonderful love and\npatience, His dying words, the darkness and the great earthquake,\u2014he\nfeared greatly, and said, \"Truly this was the Son of God!\"\n\nAnd there were many women there, standing as near as they dared. Among\nthese was Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils; and\nMary the mother of James and Joses; and Salome the mother of Zebedee's\nchildren, James and John, the disciples who had been with Jesus in the\nGarden of Gethsemane, and at other special times during His ministry.\n\nSo these women stood and waited near the cross all those long hours\ntill the evening, to see what they would do with their Lord.\n\nAnd when the evening had come, there came a rich man of Arimathea,\nnamed Joseph.\n\nHe was a counsellor and much respected among the Jews; and when the\nLord had been condemned by them, he had not consented to what they had\ndone. He was looking for the Kingdom of God, like many other godly Jews\nat that time.\n\nSo he brought fine linen to wrap the precious body of Jesus in; and\nsweet spices for His burial.\n\nAnd he went boldly in to Pilate and begged him to give him the body of\nJesus.\n\nSo Pilate gave him leave, and Joseph hastened back to take Jesus down\nfrom the cross, and to wrap Him in beautiful pure linen, and to carry\nHim away to his own new tomb which was in a garden close to Calvary.\n\nWe are told by those who have been there, that just beneath that hill\noutside Jerusalem called The Skull, there is a garden with a tomb in\nit, cut out of the rock. It is thought by some, that this is the tomb\nin which Jesus was laid; but no one can be quite certain that this is\nso.\n\nAt any rate, we are told in the Gospel of John that the garden was near\nat hand. And here they buried the body of our dear Lord, and rolled a\ngreat stone across the door of the sepulchre.\n\nAnd Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw where He was laid, and sat\ndown over against the sepulchre to watch.\n\nBut the next day, the chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate, to\nremind him that Jesus had said while He was alive, that He was going to\nrise again from the dead on the third day.\n\nSo they begged Pilate to command that the sepulchre should be made sure\ntill the third day, lest Jesus' disciples should come in the night and\nsteal His body away, and pretend that He had risen as He had said,\nwhich they thought would be a worse mistake than all!\n\nAnd Pilate answered, \"You have soldiers who can watch, go and make it\nas sure as you can.\"\n\nSo they went back, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and\nsetting men to keep watch all night.\n\n\n\nXXIV. The Resurrection\n\nThey had sealed the grave to make all sure, and they had set a watch\nthat no one should come to steal the body of Jesus; and the women and\nthose who loved Him and had followed Him, left the tomb at last, and\nwent to their own homes.\n\n[Illustration: SETTING MEN TO WATCH ALL NIGHT.]\n\nThey had forgotten that the Lord Jesus had told them, over and over\nagain, that He would rise from the dead on the third day.\n\nBut it was impossible that the grave could hold the Son of God, when\nthe time came for Him to rise.\n\nHe tasted death for all of us; but He also rose from the dead to show\nthat God was satisfied that He had atoned for our sins.\n\nVery early on the first day of the week, which is our Sunday, Mary\nMagdalene, and Salome, and \"the other Mary,\" came to the grave with\nspices and sweet-smelling ointments to anoint the body of Jesus.\n\nAnd as they went along, they said to each other, \"Who shall roll away\nthe stone for us?\" For they knew that it was very large and heavy!\n\nBut when they got there, the stone was already rolled away.\n\nSo they entered into the tomb, and they saw a young man sitting there\non the right side, clothed in a long, white garment, and they were very\nfrightened.\n\nBut he said to them, \"Do not be frightened; you are looking for Jesus\nof Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen; He is not here: look at\nthe place where they laid Him. And go and tell His disciples, and\nPeter, that if they go into Galilee they shall see Him, as He said to\nthem.\"\n\nAt first they were so frightened at the shining angel that they ran\naway, and did not tell any one. But very soon, while it was yet very\nearly, Jesus met Mary Magdalene (out of whom, we read in the 8th of\nLuke, He had cast seven devils), and when she had seen Him and He had\ntalked with her, she knew certainly that He was the Lord; and she ran\nand told His other disciples who were mourning and crying because they\nthought He was dead, and that they should never see Him again.\n\nAnd do you not think, too, that Peter must have been very glad indeed\nof that special message which the Lord Jesus sent to him?\n\nWe read afterwards that the Lord also appeared to Peter; but we do not\nknow what He said to His sorrowful disciple. All we do know is that\nJesus forgave him.\n\nAnd this is what He will do for us, children, if we ask Him to forgive\nus. He will comfort us with the assurance of His love and pardon, and\nHe will help us to go on again like He did Peter.\n\nMeanwhile the soldiers who were watching at the tomb were very\nfrightened at all that had happened, and went and told the chief\npriests all about it.\n\nSo when they had consulted together, they gave the soldiers money, and\ntold them to say that the disciples of Jesus had come in the night and\nhad stolen His body.\n\nSo that saying was believed among the Jews from that time.\n\nBut Jesus was alive! He showed Himself over and over again to His own\ndisciples; and so that there should be no mistake, He came one evening\ninto the midst of the room where the disciples and those who were with\nthem were assembled, and said, \"Peace be unto you!\"\n\nThey were all so frightened, thinking that they had seen a spirit, that\nJesus told them to touch Him and to look at the marks of the nails in\nHis hands and feet; and when they could hardly believe for joy, He\nasked them to give Him some food, and He sat down and ate it before\nthem, explaining to them in loving words that it was necessary for Him\nto die, but also necessary for Him to rise again, that He might obtain\neternal salvation for all who will obey Him.\n\n\n\nXXV. On the Shore at Dawn\n\nOn the day of the resurrection, two of the disciples of the Lord Jesus\nwere walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, and as they went\nalong they spoke of all that had happened, reasoning together about it.\n\nAnd as they walked, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But\ntheir eyes were holden that they did not know Him.\n\nSo He asked them what they were talking of, and why they were sad?\n\nAnd Cleopas answered, that He must be a stranger in Jerusalem if He did\nnot know what had so lately happened there.\n\nAnd Jesus asked them, \"What things?\"\n\nSo they told Him it was about Jesus of Nazareth who had been a mighty\nprophet, but now had been crucified; and how they had hoped that He was\nto be their Saviour.\n\nThen Jesus told them that if they had only believed, they would have\nunderstood that the Scriptures had foretold that Christ must suffer to\natone for sin, and then to enter into His glory.\n\nSo He explained in all the Scriptures the things about Himself\u2014but\nstill they did not know Him.\n\nThen they came to the village, and they pressed Him to abide with them;\nand while they sat at supper Jesus blessed the bread, and brake it, and\ngave to them.\n\nThen their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of\ntheir sight.\n\nSo they rose up the same hour and hurried back to Jerusalem, where they\nfound the eleven disciples together, who were full of the joyful news\nthat the Lord had risen indeed, and that He had appeared to Peter.\n\nThen Cleopas and his companion told their great news, and as they did\nso, Jesus Himself stood in their midst, and said to them, \"Peace be\nunto you!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow I must tell you how Jesus showed Himself to six of His disciples\nand Nathanael at the sea of Galilee, sometimes called Tiberias.\n\nPeter had proposed one evening to go to fish on the lake, and the\nothers had said they would go with him. But all that night they took\nnothing. When the morning dawned they were cold and hungry, and as the\nlight came back they saw some one on the shore who seemed to be waiting\nfor them.\n\nThey did not know that it was Jesus and even when His voice came to\nthem across the water, asking if they had anything to eat, they did not\nrecognize it.\n\nBut when the stranger called to them to cast their nets on the right\nside of the ship, and they found a lot of fish, John began to guess Who\nit must be, and he said to Peter, \"It is the Lord!\"\n\nThen Peter threw on his fisher's coat and cast himself into the sea to\nget quickly to his beloved Lord, and the rest hastened to follow in a\nsmall boat, dragging the net full of great fishes.\n\nWhen they landed on the beach, they found that Jesus had prepared for\nthem. He knew that they were cold and hungry, and they saw a fire\nalready lighted, with some fish being cooked on it, as well as bread to\neat with it.\n\nThen Jesus told them to bring some of the fish which they had caught;\nand He said to them, \"Come and break your fast.\" But none of the\ndisciples durst ask Him, \"Who art Thou?\" knowing that it was the Lord.\n\nJesus then came to them, and gave them fish and bread, and satisfied\ntheir hunger. But oh, what must it have been to have His presence, and\nto see Him once more, face to face!\n\nYou can picture them as they sat in that clear morning air with Jesus\nclose to them and how they must have listened to every word that fell\nfrom His dear lips. And what do you think was the message that He\nwanted them to remember, above all, from that resurrection breakfast\ntable?\n\nWhen they had finished their meal, Jesus turned to Simon Peter\u2014Peter\nwho loved Him so truly, and yet who had denied Him,\u2014and He said\ntenderly to him three times, \"Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?\"\n\nAnd Peter answered each time, \"Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I love\nThee!\"\n\nAnd Jesus said to him words like this: \"Then, Peter, if you love Me,\nfeed My lambs, and feed My sheep!\"\n\nJesus did not mean, children, that Peter should turn into a shepherd.\nNo; He wanted Peter to understand that among the people of God, whom\nGod often calls His flock, there would be little lambs\u2014children\u2014who\nwould want cherishing, and sheep who would want feeding, with the Bread\nof Life.\n\nI think this was the message of that resurrection breakfast table: \"If\nyou love Me, tell others of My great love!\"\n\n\n\nXXVI. Going to the Father\n\nAt length the time came for the Lord Jesus to return to heaven, to be\nat His Father's right hand.\n\nSo one day He led His disciples out of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives.\n\nHe did not tell them to wait for Him at Gethsemane that day! All sorrow\nand suffering were now past for Him. He had finished the work which His\nFather had given Him to do, and now He had only to bless His disciples,\nand ascend up above the clouds to live with His Father.\n\nDuring the forty days since His resurrection, He had appeared to them\nmany times, and had told them many things about the kingdom of God,\nand about the Holy Spirit who was soon to be sent to them to be their\nComforter.\n\nAnd now having led them out as far as Bethany, He blessed them, and\nwhile He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into\nheaven, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.\n\nWhile they looked earnestly up to heaven, two angels stood by them in\nwhite clothes, and said to them, \"Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?\nThis same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come\nin like manner, as ye have seen Him go into heaven.\"\n\nThen they returned back to Jerusalem with great joy.\n\nIt was the thought of Jesus being in glory which gave them great joy;\nand His promise that He would come again some day, made them happy and\nhopeful.\n\nThey had lost His dear bodily presence here; but He said that though He\nwas in heaven, He would be with them here too, even to the end of the\nworld.\n\nThis is what He says to us, dear children, to-day! He says, \"I am with\nyou all the days, and I am coming again to receive you to Myself, that\nwhere I am, there you may be also.\"\n\nJesus wants us all to set to work for Him. He has left us a charge to\ntell others about His love in dying for us, that they may come to Him\nto be blessed.\n\nWe may not be able to do very much, but we can try to please Him every\nday by being obedient, faithful and loving; and while we listen to His\nvoice saying to us from the glory, \"Surely I come quickly!\" We can\nanswer Him with adoring love,\u2014\n\n   \"Come, Lord Jesus!\"\n\n\n\nXXVII. When the Earth was made Beautiful\n\nLong ago, before this earth was made ready for us to live on, if you\nhad been able to look at it, you would have seen nothing but mist, and\ndarkness, and water!\n\nAnd as you think about it, you wonder very much how it all was.\n\nIf you were asked, you would say that the earth is a great round ball,\nand that it hangs up in the sky without anybody holding it up!\n\nYou cannot explain how that is, and you find it very difficult to\nunderstand how it can be.\n\nPerhaps you wonder who made the earth? And how did it get hung up in\nthe sky, and who keeps it there?\n\nSo I am going to tell you about it.\n\nA very, very long time ago, a great deal longer ago than you or I can\ncount, for the Bible tells us that it was \"In the beginning,\" God made\nthe heaven and the earth.\n\nThe earth on which we live now, where there are trees and beautiful\nflowers, and horses and cows, as well as men and women and children,\nwas quite empty then. It was always dark there in those days, and all\nthe ground was covered with water!\n\nYou can think how desolate it must have been: nothing to be seen but\nmist and darkness!\n\nBut God had not forgotten this earth of ours.\n\nAnd we read another thing in the Bible about \"In the beginning,\" and\nthat is, that Jesus the Son of God was \"in the beginning with God.\"\n\nThat is such a comforting thought! Before our world was prepared for us\nto live on, Jesus was with God in Heaven!\n\nYou children love your fathers and mothers very much; you like to go on\ntheir messages, and to do what you can to help them, do you not? The\nLord Jesus loved to do God's will, and to carry out all His Father gave\nHim to do.\n\nAnd what do you think God did give Him to do? Perhaps you have begun to\nguess!\n\nGod His Father gave Him the wonderful work of making our earth, and\npreparing it all for us to live on!\n\nIt says in the Bible \"All things were made by Him, and without Him was\nnot anything made that was made.\"\n\nSo the first thing that happened when God began to prepare this earth\nfor men to live on, was that God's Spirit came and \"brooded\" over the\ndark waters that covered the earth.\n\nYou wonder what that means? Perhaps you have seen a hen sitting day\nafter day on the nest of eggs, and \"brooding\" over them till they get\nwarmth and life?\n\nWell, that is what the word means! God's Holy Spirit came near our\nearth, and surrounded it with His warmth and love.\n\nAnd then God said, \"Let there be light!\" or \"Let the light come!\"\n\nAnd lo! Instead of the dark waters and deep shadow, there came a\nshining over the earth; and God called the light Day, and the darkness\nHe called Night.\n\nNext to the day and night, God made the air and the sky and the clouds.\nAnd He told the sea to stay where it was, and the sky to stay above the\nearth, and He called the sky Heaven.\n\nBut still there was no land to be seen; so in His wonderful power, God\ntold the sea to go back to a certain distance, and then the mountains\nand the hills and the plains stood out, and the earth was ready to be\nfurnished for us men, who were to live on it.\n\nSo God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit\nour Comforter, all prepared this beautiful earth for us.\n\nIt is God's power (by His wonderful laws) which holds the earth up in\nthe sky, so that it does not tumble out of its place.\n\nAnd it is His power which brought the trees and the grass, the flowers\nand the corn, the fruit and the vegetables to make us happy.\n\nAnd now came something else.\n\nGod planned for us to have the beautiful sun to cheer us, and to tell\nus what time of day it is; and He gave us the moon to shine at night,\nand also to remind us what time of the month we have reached. He set\nthem in the sky to make us happy, and to remind us every day of His\nlove and power. Then God made the fishes and the birds, the cattle\nand the sheep, as well as the lions and tigers, the horses and the\nelephants.\n\nAnd not only the large animals, but the little ants and bees and\ncaterpillars\u2014everything that lives on this earth.\n\nBut there were no men or women or children there, yet.\n\nThen God talked to the Lord Jesus about it; for we are told in the\nfirst Chapter of Genesis that He said \"Let us make man . . . after our\nlikeness.\"\n\nSo God made Adam and Eve, and blessed them, and promised to give them\nsome little children, and told them He had made everything on the earth\nto make them happy and to do them good.\n\nAnd then God saw that His work was very good; nothing had been left\nout, it was perfect! Every leaf was perfect, every flower, every\ninsect, every animal, every star; all were very good!\n\nThus the heavens and the earth were made, and God rested on the seventh\nday, and blessed the seventh day, because in it, He rested from all His\nwork which He had done.\n\nThis is why we have Sunday; and we shall find that in keeping His day\nof Holy Rest, we too are promised a great blessing for \"in keeping His\nCommandments there is great reward.\"\n\n\n\nXXVIII. Adam and Eve\n\nWhen God made the earth ready for men and women and children to live\nin, He made a beautiful garden called Eden, and there God put Adam and\nEve who were the first man and the first woman.\n\n[Illustration: THE GARDEN OF EDEN]\n\nIn this garden they were very good and happy. God himself used to come\ndown and talk to them in the cool of the evening.\n\nHe told Adam and Eve that He had made everything for them, and that the\ntrees with their sweet fruit were for their food.\n\nBut God gave them one command. He said they were not to eat the fruit\nof one particular tree in the garden. God knew the fruit of this tree\nwould make Adam and Eve very unhappy, if they ate it.\n\nNow I must explain to you that there were some of God's angels who had\nbeen very disobedient, and they had been shut out of heaven because\nthey would not obey God.\n\nAdam and Eve were very happy, as I said, and they did not think of\ndisobeying God till Satan (that wicked angel who tries to make us do\nnaughty things) hid himself in a serpent, and came to Eve and began to\ntalk to her.\n\nEve was not surprised that a serpent could talk to her, for so many\nwonderful things were around her, that she listened to him, and\nanswered him, without thinking it was any harm.\n\nThis is how temptation often comes to us, children!\n\nSatan began by asking Eve a very clever question. He said, \"Are you\nsure God has said that you may not eat of every tree in the garden?\"\n\nThen Eve said eagerly, \"We may eat of every tree except one; but if we\neat of that one we shall have to die!\"\n\nThen the serpent said to Eve, \"You will not have to die! You will only\nbe a great deal more wise than you are now!\"\n\nAnd so Eve looked longingly at the tree, and when she saw that the\nfruit looked so nice, and heard that it would make her clever, she\nforgot all about obeying God, and picked the fruit and ate it, and gave\nsome to Adam her husband, and he ate it too.\n\n[Illustration: PICKED THE FRUIT AND ATE IT.]\n\nOh, how sad was their disobedience, and what sorrow it brought on them\nand their children!\n\nSo the Lord God sent them out of the beautiful garden, because there\nwas in the midst of the garden the Tree of Life, and God did not wish\nthem to eat of that tree now.\n\nSo He put angels at the gate of Eden with a flaming sword, to keep the\nway of the Tree of Life.\n\nThen Adam and Eve went out sorrowfully from their lovely garden, and\nAdam had to work very hard in digging the ground to plant things to\ngrow for that food.\n\nEve was very sad too, and in the end they both had to die, as God had\nsaid.\n\nBut God is very pitiful, and when He was telling Eve how wrong she had\nbeen, and what a cruel enemy the Serpent was, He promised her that some\nday a Deliverer should come, who should destroy the serpent, Satan.\n\nThis Deliverer is Jesus Christ our Saviour, Who came to earth to live\nand to die for us, that He might undo all that Satan had done to hurt\nus, and make all who will trust Jesus, happy in heaven for ever.\n\nAnd in the Revelation, we read a beautiful promise, which tells us\nsomething about Heaven that we never could have guessed when we saw\npoor Adam and Eve driven out of Eden\u2014\n\n   \"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life,\n which is in the midst of the Paradise of God!\"\n\n\n\nXXIX. Cain and Abel\n\nBy and by God gave Adam and Eve two sons. The eldest was named Cain,\nwho helped Adam till the ground; and the younger was named Abel, who\nwas a keeper of sheep.\n\nAfter a time, both these young men brought an offering to the Lord;\nand the Lord accepted the offering of Abel, which was a lamb from the\nflock, but He could not accept the offering of fruit which Cain brought.\n\nPerhaps you wonder at that, dear children? But I will try to explain\nit to you. God looks on the heart, and Abel's heart was obedient. He\nbrought that which God had appointed as the way to come to Him. But\nCain was not obedient; he thought that the fruit of the ground which he\nhad taken such trouble to grow, would do just as well!\n\nSo when he found that God did not accept his offering, he was very\nangry, and his countenance fell.\n\nAnd the Lord said to him, \"Why are you angry, Cain? If you do well,\nshall it not be accepted? And if you do not do well, a Sin-offering\nlies at the door.\"\n\nI think that GOD meant Cain to understand that it was only by a\nSacrifice that we can come near to Him. And when, all through the Old\nTestament, we read of the sacrifice of a lamb as an offering for sin,\nGod accepted the lamb, because He looked on to the time when the Lord\nJesus would be \"The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the\nworld.\"\n\nBut Cain did not heed God's gentle persuasion, that he too could bring\na sin-offering; and presently, when he was alone with his brother, he\ngot more and more angry, and at last rushed at him and struck him and\nkilled him!\n\nOh, the misery of poor Cain! No one can tell how he longed to undo that\ncruel deed. No one knows the sorrow and punishment of his whole life.\n\nChildren, let it be a warning to us not to let anger and jealousy live\nin our hearts, but let us pray every day, \"Deliver me from Satan, the\nEvil one, who would tempt me to sin against Thee, and accept me, for\nJesus' sake!\"\n\n\n\nXXX. The Escape from Sodom\n\nThen the two angels rose up and went towards Sodom, and the Lord\nremained talking with Abraham.\n\nHe told Abraham that He intended to destroy Sodom, because the city was\nso very wicked!\n\nNow Abraham knew that his nephew Lot was living there, and he begged\nGod to spare Sodom if there were fifty good people there. And the Lord\npromised to spare it if there were!\n\nBut Abraham began to fear there were not so many; and he kept on asking\nthe Lord, till at last he got down to ten! and the Lord said He would\nspare it for ten's sake.\n\nAnd then the Lord went on His way, and Abraham went back to his home.\n\nBut when the angels got to Sodom, they could not even find ten who\nloved God!\n\nThey found Lot and his family, and urged them to escape for their lives\nacross the plain, and not once to look behind them, for Sodom was going\nto be burned all up!\n\nSo Lot escaped with his wife and two daughters and fled for his life.\nBut his wife was disobedient to God's message, and turned to look back,\nand she was turned into a pillar of salt.\n\nAnd so the great and wicked city was destroyed by a terrible judgment\nfrom the Lord, but Lot was saved!\n\nDear children! God has sent Jesus to be our Saviour, let us fly to Him\nfrom our sins, and so be safe for ever in His happy, happy land.\n\n\n\nXXXI. The Tower of Babel\n\n\"What a great tower!\" says someone. \"And how high it is! Look; the\nhouses are so small down there on that great sort of field, and the\ntower is going to be built higher still, because, you see, it is not\nfinished!\"\n\nYou are quite right! That beautiful tower never was finished, though it\nwas begun four thousand years ago!\n\nI told you about the Flood; and this is the next story after the Flood.\n\nYou remember that when the rain stopped, and God allowed the waters to\ngo down, the tops of the mountains began to be seen, and then the green\nfields were uncovered, and Noah and his children and all the animals\nwere able to come out of the Ark, and to begin to live on the earth\nagain.\n\nBut, alas, as men began to increase on the earth, they began to forget\nGod, and the way He had saved them in the Ark. But they remembered the\nflood, and they thought in their pride, that they would build a very\nhigh tower whose top should reach to Heaven, so that no flood could\noverwhelm them any more.\n\nBut there was another thing they forgot; and that was God's promise to\nthem, that He never would send a flood to destroy the world again.\n\nThen God came down from Heaven to see all that the men on the earth\nwere doing. And when He saw their pride and their forgetfulness of Him,\nthe Lord said, Let us go down and prevent the men from understanding\neach other's speech.\n\n[Illustration: THEY WOULD BUILD A VERY HIGH TOWER.]\n\nAnd when God had done this, the men could not speak to each other about\ntheir work as they used. It was just as if someone were to speak German\nor Italian or Spanish to you and expect you to understand.\n\nSo the men could not build any more, for no one could understand what\nthe others said. So they left off building and were scattered to all\nparts of the earth; and the city they had tried to build was called\nBabel\u2014which means Confusion.\n\nBut God did not forget His servant Noah, nor Noah's good son Shem.\nHe took care of Shem and of his children after him, and by and by of\nShem's grandchildren and great-grandchildren, till at length Abraham\nwas born.\n\nAnd Abraham had the great honour of being called The Friend of God!\n\nPerhaps you think how much you would like to be called such a name as\nthat?\n\nThen let all of us who would like to be called God's friends set out to\nbe obedient.\n\nGod has put in the Bible rules which are to guide us every day. If we\nfollow them, that is being obedient.\n\nDo you remember what the Lord Jesus said about that, when He was on\nearth?\n\nHere are the words,\u2014\n\n   \"Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.\"\n\n   \"For whosoever shall do the Will of My Father which is in Heaven,\n the same is My brother and sister and mother.\"\n\n\n\nXXXII. The Friend of God\n\n\"Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from\nthy father's house, unto a land which I will shew thee; and I will make\nof thee a great nation, and I will bless thee . . . and in thee shall\nall families of the earth be blessed.\"\n\nSo Abram obeyed, and went out from Ur of the Chaldees, and came into\nthe land of Canaan.\n\nGod had given Abram most wonderful promises, as well as frequent\nassurances of His love. He was also very rich, for God had given him a\ngreat deal of money, and many sheep and oxen and camels.\n\nBut there was one thing which God had not given Abram, which he longed\nfor very much; and this was a little child of his very own.\n\nGod loved Abram, and He would not have denied him his desire without\nsome wise and loving reason.\n\nGod promised Abram that he should have a son, but He wished to prove\nto all the world, and to the angels who are looking on at what happens\non this earth, that Abram could trust Him, and trust His promise even\nthough he should have to wait twenty years for it.\n\nAbram had brought his wife Sarah, and his nephew Lot with him, when he\nleft his own country; but after a time he and Lot had so many sheep and\noxen that there was not grass enough for them all; so Lot chose the\nland towards Sodom, and Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan.\n\nOne day the word of God came to Abram in a vision or dream, saying,\n\"Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward!\"\n\nThen Abram told the Lord how he wanted a son of his own, for he had no\none to take all his riches by and by, except the servant who managed\nhis property.\n\nAnd God promised Abram that he should have a son of his very own.\n\nAnd God led him out in the night when all the beautiful stars were\nshining in the deep blue sky, and God said, \"Look now towards heaven,\nand tell the stars if thou be able to count them\"; and God said, \"So\nshall the number of your children be!\"\n\nAnd Abram believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for\nrighteousness.\n\nDo you not think, children, that as Abram walked on those lonely\nmountains in Palestine, that he must often have thought \"God has\npromised all this land to me and my children!\" And then, when he looked\nup at the stars at night in the clear atmosphere, that he must have\nbeen lost in wonder at the thousands and thousands of stars which he\nsaw, and have said to himself, \"God promised so shall my seed be!\"\n\nThe Lord Jesus, in the New Testament, tells us something about Abraham\nwhich we do not read in Genesis.\n\nHe said \"Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad!\"\n\nHow wonderful it is that God notices and remembers when we try to\nplease Him, and sees our hearts when nobody else can!\n\nAt length Abram was ninety years old, and the Lord appeared to him\nagain, and told him that his name should not be called Abram any more,\nbut Abraham, because he was to be a father of many nations. And then\nGod told Abraham that very soon he and Sarah were to have a little son,\nand that his name was to be called Isaac.\n\nSo one day Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of\nthe day, when he looked up and saw three men standing by him; and when\nhe saw them, he ran to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.\n\nPerhaps Abraham guessed that one of the three men was the Lord; for\nafterwards he did not seem at all surprised when the Lord spoke to him,\nand promised to give Sarah a little son very soon.\n\nAt any rate he begged the three men to rest beneath the tree while he\nhastened away to prepare food to refresh them.\n\nThen he took butter and milk and a young calf which he had cooked, and\nset it before them and he stood by under the tree, and they did eat.\n\nThen they asked him where Sarah was, and Abraham answered that she was\nin the tent.\n\nAnd the Lord said, \"I will certainly return and Sarah, thy wife, shall\nhave a son.\"\n\nNow Sarah was just inside the tent, and when she heard the words, she\nlaughed within herself.\n\nAnd the Lord said to Abraham, \"Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I of\na surety have a child?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time\nappointed I will return unto thee, and Sarah shall have a son.\"\n\nAnd Sarah was ashamed that she had doubted God's promise, and she\ndenied, saying, \"I did not laugh,\" for she was afraid.\n\nBut the Lord said, \"Nay, but thou didst laugh.\"\n\n\n\nXXXIII. In a Thirsty Land\n\nThis is a nice story for children, because it tells us that God listens\nwhen children pray, and sympathizes with all that happens to children.\n\nThe boy you see in the picture is almost dying for want of water.\nPerhaps none of you children know how dreadful it is to be really very\nthirsty, and have nothing to drink, however thirsty you may be.\n\nHagar, the mother of the boy, is very sad. She knows that the bottle is\nempty, and she cannot see any sign of a well, or of a spring of water,\nin the great sandy desert which stretches in every direction as far as\nthe eye can see.\n\nIshmael is her one child, and God has allowed them to be sent out\ninto the wilderness, with only a bottle of water and as much bread as\nthey can carry; for Hagar had been turned out of her home, and had\nbeen obliged to take that long and dangerous journey, because of the\nunkindness of her mistress Sarah.\n\nBut God was watching over her and Ishmael. He would not allow anything\nto really hurt them, and in His great pity, He sent to save them when\nall other help had failed.\n\nBy and by there was not one drop of water left in the bottle, and\nIshmael had no strength to walk any further.\n\nHagar knew that all hope was over, now that Ishmael could not walk\nanother step! So she laid him down under a little shrub that grew\nthere, and went some little distance off, for she said in her grief, \"I\ncannot bear to see him die.\"\n\nSo she sat down in her misery and cried bitterly.\n\nBut God heard the voice of the lad, and He sent His angel to call to\nHagar from heaven. \"What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for\nGod has heard the voice of the lad, where he is. Arise, lift up the lad\nand hold him in thine hand; for I will make of him a great nation.\"\n\nThen God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and\nfilled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink, and he revived,\nand presently got quite well.\n\nAnd this is the lesson which we may learn from Ishmael's cry, children.\n\nGod knows our difficulties; God hears us when we speak to Him; God\nis nearer than we think; God is more loving than the most loving of\nearthly friends. He tells us to call upon Him in trouble.\n\nLet us think of Ishmael dying for want of water, and crying to God in\nhis distress, and let us do the same in our troubles!\n\nNo matter how small they may seem, God says He cares.\n\nLet us take courage, then; and if God whispers to us when we are\nsorrowful (like He did to Hagar), \"What aileth thee\u2014what is the\nmatter?\" Let us listen for another whisper, for He will surely finish\nthe sentence to us, as He did to Hagar, with the cheering words, \"Fear\nnot!\"\n\n\n\nXXXIV. The Offering of Isaac\n\nSo Abraham was given his dear little son Isaac, and he was the delight\nof Abraham's life, and of Sarah's too.\n\nBut by and by, God wished to try Abraham's faith more than even in that\nlong waiting time for Isaac. God was going to ask him to do about the\nhardest thing that a man could be asked to do.\n\nGod told Abraham that he was to take his dear son whom he so fondly\nloved, and to go to a mountain a long way off, in the land of Moriah,\nand to offer him up to God as a sacrifice.\n\nThis was to try Abraham's obedience and faith.\n\nWas he to take Isaac! On whom all his hopes rested, who was the joy of\nhis life, and through whom all the world was to be blessed; was he to\nlay him upon the altar, and offer him up to God, as he did the lambs\nfrom his flock?\n\nBut Abraham did not hesitate. If God told him to do a thing, he obeyed.\nHe knew that God could even raise Isaac from the dead, if He thought\ngood. At any rate he had nothing to do, but to obey!\n\nSo he got up very early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took\ntwo young men with him, and his son, and the wood for the burnt\noffering, and set out on his journey to the place God had told him of.\n\nThe most precious thing Abraham had was that son who was walking beside\nhim. And besides his love for his boy, God had promised that Isaac\nshould live to have a son, and that by and by the Saviour should come\ninto the world as one of Isaac's great-great-great-great-grandchildren!\n\nIsaac was now grown into a strong young man, but he went with his\nfather; and though he asked him on the way, Where was the lamb for the\nburnt offering? He was satisfied with his father's answer, \"My son, God\nwill provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.\"\n\nWhen they reached the place which God had told him of, Abraham bound\nIsaac his son, and laid him upon the altar; and then he stretched out\nhis hand with the knife in it, to offer up his son as God had told him.\n\nBut as quickly as the knife was raised, so quickly an angel of God\ncalled out of heaven, \"Abraham, Abraham!\"\n\nOh, how glad Abraham was to draw back that dreadful knife and answer,\n\"Here am I!\"\n\nAnd God said, \"Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything\nto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not\nwithheld thy son, thine only son, from ME.\"\n\nAnd when Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught by his horns in a bush;\nand he took him and offered him up instead of his son.\n\nSo Isaac was given back to his loving father, and God was very pleased\nwith Abraham's obedience, and He told him that in Isaac's children, by\nand by, all the nations of the world should be blessed.\n\nFor in about eighteen hundred years after this, the Lord Jesus Christ\nwas coming to this earth to be \"The Lamb of God which taketh away the\nsin of the world\"; and I think that when Abraham said, \"God Himself\nwill provide a lamb,\" he was thinking, not only of the saving of\nIsaac's life, but of that far-off day when Jesus should bear our sins,\ninstead of us, on the Cross of Calvary, that we may go free!\n\n\n\nXXXV. A Bargain Between Two Brothers\n\nBy and by Isaac grew up to be a man.\n\nAbraham and Sarah heard that in Abraham's old home in Mesopotamia, his\nbrother Nahor had a family of sons and daughters, and they thought it\nwould be very nice if Isaac could have one of these daughters for his\nwife. So Abraham called Eliezer, his chief servant, and told him to\nprepare for a long journey, as he wished him to bring back a wife for\nhis son Isaac.\n\nEliezer was afraid that the maiden would not come so far, but Abraham\ntold him that God would send His angel with him to prosper him on his\nway.\n\nSo Eliezer took some valuable presents, and set out with camels and\nservants to seek for a wife for his master's son.\n\nHe at length reached the city of Nahor, where Abraham used to live.\nIt seems that Eliezer used to pray about everything! If he could not\nkneel down to pray, he prayed in his heart; and to those who tell God\neverything, God sends very quick answers.\n\nIn those hot countries, the caravans stop outside the city at the well,\nso that the thirsty men as well as the camels may drink.\n\nThen Eliezer prayed, and asked God to send out the maiden to draw\nwater, who was to be the wife of Isaac, and to point her out to him by\nher offering to draw water for the camels; and it all happened just as\nhe had prayed.\n\nRebecca came out of the city with a pitcher upon her shoulder, which\nshe carried to the well and filled with water.\n\nWhen Eliezer ran to meet her, and asked her for a drink, she hastened\nto give him some, and offered at once to fill the trough and water all\nthe thirsty camels. Then Eliezer asked her whose daughter she was, and\nwhen she told him, he knew at once that God had guided him to the very\nmaiden whom Abraham wanted his son to marry!\n\nWas not this a quick answer? And Eliezer not only asked, but he thanked\nGod for the answer. \"And the man bowed down his head and worshipped the\nLord.\"\n\nThen he gave Rebecca some beautiful presents; as well as many precious\nthings for her mother and her brother.\n\nAnd so Rebecca consented to go back with Eliezer and became Isaac's\nwife; and Isaac was very glad his father had sent for her all that long\nway, for he loved her very much.\n\nBy and by God sent Isaac and Rebecca two little twin sons, who grew up\nto be men.\n\nEsau was the elder, and Jacob was the younger.\n\nEsau was a very clever hunter, and lived an adventurous life among the\nmountains, and was often away for days in his hunting excursions.\n\nJacob, however, preferred staying quietly at home, living in the tents,\nand looking after the flocks and herds.\n\nIsaac was now getting old, and he loved Esau the best of his two sons,\nbecause Esau often brought him a wild animal from his hunting, and\nwould cook it for his father and make it into a savoury dish.\n\nBut Rebecca loved Jacob the best; and in after years, through her\nmaking him such a favourite, she had the greatest sorrow of her life.\n\nOne day Esau came in from a long journey, and though he had succeeded\nin catching and bringing home an animal, he had had nothing to eat for\na long time and as he got near to the tents where they all lived, he\nsaw his brother Jacob sitting eating a bowlful of red pottage, which he\nhad just made for himself.\n\nEsau was very faint and hungry, with such hunger as you and I, dear\nchildren, have probably never felt. Very likely he had tasted no food\nthat day, and perhaps not the day before. The sight of the steaming\nbowl of pottage made him feel as if he would give anything he possessed\nfor some of it to stop the pangs of hunger.\n\nNow I am sorry to tell you that Jacob had a very mean character. Though\nhe truly loved God and wished to please Him, his natural character was\nvery shifty.\n\nSo when his brother Esau asked him eagerly to give him his bowl of\npottage, Jacob did not jump up and press it upon his hungry brother,\nbut he thought it was a good opportunity to make a bargain!\n\n\"If I do give it to you, sell me your birthright!\" he exclaimed.\n\nNow among the Jews, the birthright of being the eldest son, God had\nmade a great honour. It was most jealously guarded and taken care of;\nand God gave great blessings with it.\n\nBut Esau did not love God truly in his heart, as Jacob did; he was busy\nwith other things, and had never given it a thought that to love and\nserve God was more important than anything else.\n\nSo he said to Jacob, \"I am so faint for food that I am ready to die!\nWhat good will this birthright do me?\"\n\nSo Jacob answered, \"You must give me your most sacred promise that you\nsell it to me for this pottage of lentils!\"\n\nAnd Esau promised most solemnly; and so he sold his birthright!\n\nThen Jacob gave Esau some bread, and his pottage of lentils, and Esau\nate and drank, and rose up and went away.\n\nAnd thus, he despised the birthright which God had given him. He was\nvery very sorry afterwards, but he could not undo what he had done.\n\nI think this is a very sorrowful story, because there are so many\npeople like Esau, who turn away from God's best gifts, and seek only\nthe earthly things which will quickly pass away.\n\nLet the lesson to us, dear children, be to love God first and best of\nall\u2014before food or clothes, or toys, or happiness\u2014to put God first; and\nwhen we have Him for our own, He will take care that we shall have all\nwe need to make us happy; and at the end \"a Right to the Tree of Life;\nand we shall enter in through the gates, into the Heavenly City.\"\n\n\n\nXXXVI. The Ladder up to Heaven\n\nThough Jacob loved God truly, he was not very truthful, and had many\nfaults.\n\nThis is very sad, but I think knowing about it is a help to you and me,\ndear children, because we see that in spite of all, God loved him and\nforgave him, and taught him as He led him through his long life, to try\nmore and more to please Him in everything.\n\nJacob had bargained with his hungry brother Esau for his Birthright,\nand had got it from him.\n\nAfter a time when Isaac, his father, was very old and was soon going to\ndie, Rebecca heard Isaac asking Esau to go out hunting and bring him\nhome some savoury meat, for he wished to bless him before he died.\n\nDirectly Esau was gone, Rebecca called Jacob to her, and together they\nplanned to deceive Isaac, who was nearly blind with age, by Jacob's\ndressing up in Esau's clothes and pretending to be his first-born son.\n\nSo Jacob got his father's blessing as well as the Birthright; and Esau\nwas so terribly angry that he said he would kill his brother when his\nfather was dead. When Rebecca heard of this, she begged Jacob to fly\nto Haran, where her brother Laban lived, and stay there until Esau was\npacified.\n\nThen she went to Isaac and told him that they would send Jacob to get a\nwife from her old home, and Isaac agreed, and Rebecca sent her son away\nand never saw his face again.\n\nOh, sad deception! What sorrow it brought on both Rebecca and Jacob!\n\nSo Jacob set out on his long journey and one night he came to a lonely\nplaces far from any village where people lived.\n\nJacob was tired and the sun had set, and he had no light to guide him,\nso he thought he would lie down where he was, and go to sleep till\ndaylight.\n\nThen he had a wonderful dream, and this is what he saw: Right in front\nof him was a ladder set up on the earth, and it went up till the top\nreached right to heaven. And he could see the angels of God going up\nand coming down upon it.\n\nBut beyond all, in the radiant glory, the Lord stood above the ladder\nand spoke to Jacob. He told him that He was the Lord God of Abraham,\nand of Isaac, and that by and by through his children's children should\ncome the One who was to be the Blessing of the whole world.\n\nWe know the name of that Holy One Who is the world's blessing; it is\nJesus Christ, Who came into the world to save sinners!\n\nThen Jacob awoke from his dream and said, \"Surely the Lord is in this\nplace! . . . This is none other than the gate of heaven!\"\n\nSo he took the stones on which he had been resting, and set them up for\nan altar to the Lord, and made a vow that he would serve God all his\nlife, and would give to God the tenth part of everything that God gave\nto him.\n\nNow it seems to me, children, that this Ladder up to heaven comes into\nour lives every day.\n\nJesus, our Saviour, is like the ladder which rested on the earth close\nto Jacob; and He is gone back to heaven now to be there to help us in\nevery way: that is the top of the ladder which reached to heaven, where\nthe Lord stood and spoke to Jacob.\n\nSo when you see this picture, say to yourselves, \"Jesus is my ladder!\nHe is close to me here, He is close to God there! He will never leave\nme nor forsake me; I can send messages and prayers every time I am\nlonely or in trouble, and He will send back answers if I wait for them.\"\n\nSo Jacob went on his journey over the desert and at length reached\nthe country to the East, where he hoped he would find his mother's\nrelations.\n\n\n\nXXXVII. Jacob meets Rachel\n\nOne day Jacob sat down by a well, and looking about him he saw a number\nof flocks coming near and waiting by the mouth of the well, which had a\nlarge stone upon it. So he asked the shepherds whether they knew a man\ncalled Laban; and they told him that they did, and that his daughter\nRachel was even now coming with her father's flock!\n\nSo Jacob was very glad to see Rachel, and went to the well and rolled\nthe stone away, and watered the flock for her. And then he told Rachel\nthat his mother was Rebecca, Laban's sister; and she ran and told her\nfather.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB WAS VERY GLAD TO SEE RACHEL.]\n\nThen there was great rejoicing, and Laban welcomed Jacob to his home,\nand he began to take care of the flocks.\n\nWhen Jacob had been there a month, Laban asked him what wages he would\nhave, and whether he would stay with him? And Jacob gladly consented,\nfor he loved Rachel very much, and promised to serve Laban for seven\nyears, if he would give him Rachel for his wife.\n\nSo at the end of the time, Rachel became his wife; and by and by, God\nsent her a little son called Joseph, who was going to be, many years\nafterwards, a great ruler in the land of Egypt!\n\n\n\nXXXVIII. The Story of Joseph\n\nYou have often heard of Joseph's coat of many colours, and of his being\nsold by his brothers into Egypt.\n\nSo I am going to tell you a little about him, and then you will\nunderstand how he came to have that beautiful coat. I have read\nthat generally the eldest son was given a bright coloured,\nbeautifully-worked coat; but Joseph was the eleventh son, and Jacob,\nhis father, gave him that pretty coat because he loved him so very much.\n\nWhen his brothers saw it, they felt very jealous, and hated Joseph\nbecause his father made him such a favourite.\n\nNow jealousy is a very wretched feeling. It is wrong as well as\nwretched. If boys and girls\u2014or grown up people-give way to jealousy,\nthey may by and by do very unkind and wicked things. The Bible says\n\"Jealousy is cruel as the grave,\" and you will see as we go on with the\nstory of Joseph, how very true it was in his case.\n\nOne day Joseph had a very wonderful dream, and he told his brothers\nabout it.\n\nHe had dreamed that he and his brothers were binding sheaves of corn in\na field, and that his sheaf stood upright, and that all the sheaves of\nhis brothers bowed down to his sheaf.\n\nThis displeased his brothers very much, and they hated him more than\nthey did before.\n\nAfter a time, Jacob sent Joseph to some far-off fields to see how his\nbrothers and the flocks were getting on, for Jacob and his sons were\nshepherds.\n\nWhen the brothers saw him coming, they remembered about his dream, and\nthey determined to kill him, and cast his body into a pit.\n\nBut Reuben, his eldest brother, wished to save him out of their hands,\nso he advised them to put him into the pit alive, intending to come\npresently and take him back to their father.\n\nBut while Reuben was away, some merchants came by on camels, on their\nway down to Egypt, and the brothers decided to sell Joseph to them.\n\nThough the lad wept and besought them not to be so cruel, they would\nnot hear. So the merchants gave them twenty pieces of silver for their\nbrother, and put him on a camel, and took him a long way off to sell\nhim for a slave.\n\nThen the brothers took Joseph's coat of many colours, and dipped it in\nthe blood of a little goat, and carried the coat back to Jacob, telling\nhim they supposed Joseph must have been killed by a wild beast, as that\nwas how they had found his coat!\n\nBut \"God meant it for good\" all the time, and afterwards we see how\nthis was.\n\nSo the unkind brothers let their poor father grieve for Joseph for many\nmany years.\n\nMeanwhile Joseph was brought by the merchants down to Egypt, which is\nthe country that joins on to the land of Canaan at the bottom\u2014or south.\n\nThe master who bought him from the merchants treated him very kindly,\nand when he saw how God prospered all that Joseph did, he made him\noverseer of all his property.\n\nBut all at once another trouble came to Joseph! He was falsely accused\nto his master, and was cast into prison. Still God meant it for good,\nand Joseph behaved so well in the prison (for God was with him), that\nthe keeper of the prison took the fetters off his feet, and gave him\nthe charge of all the other prisoners.\n\nSee, children, what a nice thing it is to serve God in difficult\ncircumstances!\n\nBy and by, after a very long time, Joseph was taken to Pharaoh, the\ngreat King of Egypt, to tell him the meaning of a wonderful dream,\nwhich had frightened him very much.\n\nThus step by step the slave-boy was being brought to the king's palace.\n\nGod gave Joseph wisdom and favour. He was not only able to tell Pharaoh\nthe meaning of his dream, that there would be seven years of plentiful\nharvests and seven years of famine; but he gave the king such good\nadvice that the Egyptians were delighted, and Pharaoh put Joseph at the\nhead of everything to carry it out.\n\nThe advice was, to carefully store up the corn in the good years, so\nthat there would be enough for the bad years.\n\nAnd it was in those bad years of famine that old Jacob\u2014Joseph's dear\nfather\u2014sent ten of his sons down to Egypt to buy corn.\n\nThey had no idea that the great ruler, who, they heard, was selling\ncorn to the hungry people, was their own brother, whom they had sold\nfor a slave thirteen years before!\n\nSo they came down to Egypt, and were taken into the presence of Joseph,\nthough they did not recognize who that great prince was. Then they\nbowed themselves to the ground before him, and asked him if he would\nsell them some corn for their families!\n\nJoseph knew his brothers at once. They were less changed than he was;\nbut he did not make himself known to them at first.\n\nHe asked all about their father, and their youngest brother; and spoke\nroughly to them, telling them that if they wanted corn, they must go\nback to fetch their brother Benjamin, that he might see him, if they\nwere true men!\n\nAfterwards he told them that he served God himself, and as he knew\ntheir families were hungry, he would give them some corn, but they must\ngo, all the same, and fetch their other brother back.\n\nOh! How sorry all those ten brothers were for their sin. They\nremembered now how cruel they had been. They said to each other, \"We\nwere verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish\nof his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear.\"\n\nBut they talked in their own language, and did not know that the great\nprince understood them; and Joseph hastened away from them and cried.\nFor he was quite ready to forgive them, but he longed to see his\nbrother Benjamin. So he sent nine of them back with the corn to fetch\nhim, and kept one brother in ward till they should come again.\n\nSo they returned to Canaan, and poor old Jacob was obliged to spare\nhis youngest boy to go down to Egypt, little thinking that Joseph was\nalive, and that by and by, in God's best time, he was to see his dear\nJoseph again, and clasp his son In his arms.\n\nGod watches over His people, and promises to make all things work\ntogether for good, because they love Him!\n\n\n\nXXXIX. Jacob Comes into Egypt\n\nWhen at last Benjamin reached Egypt, Joseph could hardly help telling\nhis brothers the great secret, that he was alive! But still, he allowed\nthem to set out with their sacks of corn on their homeward journey\nagain; and told his servants to hide his drinking cup in Benjamin's\nsack. When the party had gone a little way, Joseph's servants were told\nto overtake them, and to charge them with having stolen his cup!\n\nYou can guess how terrified the brothers were at such a charge from the\ngreat prince!\n\nThey unloaded their asses, and told the Egyptian servants to look for\nthemselves!\n\nBut when the cup was really found in Benjamin's sack, they had not a\nword to say; and as they returned sorrowfully to the house of the great\nprince, they confessed to each other that God was punishing them for\ntheir cruelty to their young brother long ago.\n\nBut God saw their sorrow for their sin, and He forgave them, and was\ngoing to bring good out of it all.\n\nWhen they got back to Joseph, after hearing their sorrowful\nexplanation, he could no longer keep in his loving wish to forgive\nthem; and he told them not to grieve, for he was still alive. And then,\nhe sent them all home again, giving his brothers a handsome set of\nclothes each, and with quantities of presents for his aged father, as\nwell as sending some wagons to the land of Canaan, to fetch his father\nand all their families down to Egypt, that he might take care of them\nwhile the famine lasted.\n\nJoseph sent his father a great many beautiful presents; and when the\nbrothers got back, and told Jacob that Joseph was alive and was ruler\nover all the land of Egypt, and that he wished his father and all their\nfamilies to come down to Egypt, the heart of Jacob fainted within him,\nfor he did not believe them.\n\nBut when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him down to\nEgypt, \"the heart of Jacob their father revived, and Israel said, It is\nenough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go down and see him before I\ndie!\"\n\nAnd children! These wagons of Joseph's have often been a lesson to me!\n\nLike old Jacob, we see God's mercies surrounding us, and yet because we\ndo not believe and trust Him enough, our hearts faint within us at some\nfresh difficulty that stands in our way, perhaps.\n\nYou ask, \"What are the wagons, then?\"\n\nI think the wagons are a picture to us of the reality of God's\npromises, and of the reality of the living Jesus.\n\nJacob said, \"Joseph my son is yet alive!\"\n\nWe may say with tenderest reverence, \"Jesus my Saviour is a living\nSaviour, I will trust myself to Him and follow Him, and one day I shall\nsee Him face to face!\"\n\n\n\nXL. Moses and the Children of Israel\n\nYou often hear in the Bible about \"The Children of Israel,\" and now I\nam going to tell you how it was they were called by that name.\n\nLong before Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt to live near Joseph,\nGod had met Jacob one night and had given him a new name. God loved\nJacob very much, and He did not wish him to be called Jacob any more,\nbecause that name meant a Supplanter\u2014one who had taken something away\nfrom another\u2014and God forgave Jacob for his deceit, and called him\nhenceforward, Israel.\n\nSo, when in after years, he went down to Egypt, he is often called\nIsrael; and thus his twelve sons came to be called \"The Children of\nIsrael.\"\n\nWell, the children of Israel settled down in Egypt, and Joseph was very\nkind to them, and they lived in the land of Goshen and were very happy.\n\nBut after a time another Pharaoh came to the throne, who did not\nremember Joseph, and all he had done for the Egyptians in that great\nfamine; and this Pharaoh thought that these Jews or children of Israel\nshould be made into slaves, and should build his great cities and\npyramids; and he made their lives a terrible burden to them.\n\nBut God had not forgotten His great promise to Abraham that his\nchildren should live in the land of Canaan; and when the time that\nGod had mentioned to Abraham drew near, He was preparing a great\ndeliverance for them; to take them right out of Egypt back to their own\nland!\n\nYou will now hear how God brought this to pass. His ways are most\nwonderful!\n\nThe King of Egypt, called Pharaoh, was very surprised to find that in\nspite of all his unkindness, the children of Israel grew to be so many,\nthat he feared they would fill up all the land of Egypt. So he sent out\na cruel order that all the little baby boys should be killed as soon as\nthey were born.\n\nSome of the Jews who loved and feared God would not obey the wicked\norder, and among these was a mother called Jochebed who had a very\nbeautiful baby called Moses.\n\nThe very best way when we want to do anything very difficult is to tell\nGod about it, and ask Him to help us. So this Jewish mother did; and\nthen she made a strong basket of bulrushes, over which she put pitch to\nkeep out the water, and then laid her sweet baby in it, and laid the\ncradle in the bulrushes on the river bank, sending his little sister\nMiriam to watch him as well as she could.\n\nThink of the greedy crocodiles who might have come up from the river\nand have eaten little Moses up!\n\n[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.]\n\nBut God's loving care was over him and he did not get any harm.\n\nBy and by the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to bathe; and\nGod sent her to the very spot where little Moses lay crying in his\nbasket.\n\n[Illustration: THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH CAME DOWN TO THE RIVER TO BATHE.]\n\nThe Princess felt very sorry for the little baby, and guessed it must\nbelong to one of the poor Jews who were ordered to throw their boys\ninto the river. So she told her maids to take up the babe; and just as\nthey did so, little Miriam, who was not more than twelve years old,\ncame up to see what would happen to her little brother.\n\nWhen she saw the Princess was so kind, she offered, like a wise\nlittle girl, to fetch a nurse for him; and when the princess gave her\npermission, Miriam ran to Moses, own dear mother; and she was allowed\nto take care of him, to bring him up for the princess, who loved him so\nmuch that she called him her son.\n\nWe are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that it was \"by faith\" that\nMoses' parents saved his life! Because they trusted God to do for them\nwhat they could not do for themselves!\n\n\n\nXLI. The Rod of God\n\nPerhaps when you have thought of little Moses in the bulrushes, you\nhave wondered what became of him when he grew up to be a man?\n\nWell, at first when he was in Pharaoh's Palace, he was given hard\nlessons to learn, like any of us. But he seems to have been very clever\nand very industrious, for soon he became learned in all the arts of the\nEgyptians, and was mighty in word and in deed.\n\nThough he was brought up so grandly in a palace, he did not forget that\nhe was a Jew, one of the Children of Israel. He was very sorry to see\nhis relations so cruelly treated, and sometimes he would walk down to\nthe part of the town where the Jews lived, and would look at them as\nthey toiled at the hard work which Pharaoh gave them to do.\n\nOne day Moses saw one of the Egyptians being very unkind to a Jew, and\nhe ran to them and defended the Jew, and killed the Egyptian and hid\nhim in the sand; he thought the Jews would understand that God was\ngoing to send him to deliver them.\n\nBut the next day when he wished to settle a quarrel between two of the\nChildren of Israel, they did not like it, and asked him if he was going\nto kill them as he did the Egyptian yesterday?\n\nThen Moses was frightened, and left Pharaoh's beautiful palace, and all\nthe splendour that he had enjoyed all his life, and went away quite far\nfrom Egypt for forty years! Here he was married and had two sons, and\nhe kept his father-in-law's flocks, and lived very happily.\n\nAt length, when he was watching the sheep one day near to a mountain,\nthe angel of God appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst\nof a bush. Moses thought the sight so wonderful that he came closer to\nlook at it, and then God called to him out of the burning bush and told\nhim not to come near, as God Himself was there, and the place was very\nholy.\n\nAnd the Lord said, what will comfort every one of us to remember, if we\nare in any trouble or sorrow, \"I have surely seen the affliction of My\npeople which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their\ntaskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and am come down to deliver them\nout of the hands of the Egyptians. Come now therefore, and I will send\nyou to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people out of Egypt.\"\n\nBut at first Moses was very much afraid that the Children of Israel\nwould not trust him, and he almost wanted God to send some other\nmessenger who would do the work better.\n\nBut God was very patient with Moses; He kept on assuring him that He\nwould help him in every difficulty, \"Certainly I will be with thee,\" He\nsaid.\n\nAt last Moses told the Lord that the people would say that he had not\nseen God at all; and then the Lord asked him what it was which he held\nin his hand?\n\nSo Moses said it was a rod. Then God told him to throw it on the\nground, and in a moment the rod had turned into a serpent!\n\nThen God told him not to be afraid of it, but to catch it by its tail;\nand the serpent turned back into a rod in his hand.\n\nSo God told him to take that rod in his hand when he went to Egypt, for\nHe would work signs with it for him.\n\nMoses was still afraid, and then God allowed him to have his brother\nAaron with him, that they might do God's wonderful signs together, and\nhelp each other.\n\nAt length Moses accomplished his journey to the land of the Pyramids,\nwhich it is probable the poor Jews were helping to build at that very\ntime; and Moses stood before Pharaoh and gave him God's message \"Let My\npeople go that they may serve Me!\"\n\nBut Pharaoh was not willing to understand that message. He saw those\nthousands of slaves, who were busy building his cities and his tombs,\nand he would not believe that there was anyone strong enough to deliver\nthem from his powerful hand. So he said scornfully, \"Who is the Lord,\nthat I should obey His voice?\"\n\n\n\nXLII. Pharaoh's Refusal\n\nSo Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh and gave him God's message\u2014\n\n\"Thus saith the Lord: Israel is My son, even My first-born . . . and I\nsay unto thee, Let My son go that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse\nto let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.\"\n\nPharaoh was very angry. He did not love the great and holy God who made\nheaven and earth; but served his own gods made of wood and stone, who\ncould not speak or move.\n\nAnd he said scornfully, \"Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?\"\n\nSo Moses did as the Lord had commanded him to do. He told Aaron, his\nbrother, to take the Rod of God, which God had given him to do wonders\nwith, and to cast it down on the ground in front of Pharaoh and his\nservants.\n\nAnd when Aaron cast it down, the rod turned into a serpent!\n\nSo Pharaoh called his wise men and sorcerers to see what they could do.\nThey were used to playing with snakes, and teaching them tricks; and\nwhen they threw down their rods, they also turned into serpents. But\nsuch a wonderful thing happened then\u2014Aaron's rod swallowed up all their\nrods! That was a thing they could not do!\n\nBut Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not let the Children of\nIsrael go.\n\nSo God sent some dreadful plagues on the land of Egypt. He turned all\ntheir water into blood; He sent frogs over the land, which came into\ntheir houses and got up on to their beds; He sent a great darkness over\nall the land in the day-time, so that the Egyptians could not find\ntheir way about, and many more things which I have not space to tell\nyou.\n\nFor many days Moses had been trying to persuade Pharaoh to let the\nChildren of Israel go out of his land; and though God had sent great\nand dreadful plagues to warn the Egyptians that they must obey Him, yet\nPharaoh would not listen.\n\nAt last, God sent Moses to him again and told him that if he would not\nlet His people go, God would send His destroying angel through the\nland, and the first-born of every man and beast must die! And there\nwould be most dreadful sorrow through all the land of Egypt.\n\n\n\nXLIII. The Passover\n\nThe Easter full moon was shining down in all its white glory on the\nland of Egypt, more than three thousand years ago.\n\nIt was the last night that the Children of Israel were to stay in\nEgypt! To-morrow they would be free.\n\nFor that night, at midnight, the destroying angel would pass through\nthe land of Egypt, to kill all the first-born of the Egyptians; and\nthere would not be one house where there was not one dead.\n\nPerhaps you think to yourselves, children, \"But would the first-born of\nthe Israelites die too? How would the destroying angel know which were\nEgyptians, and which were the Children of Israel?\"\n\nAh! God had foreseen how to prevent that! He had not let plagues touch\nthe houses of His own people!\n\nHe told Moses that all who wished to be safe on that dreadful night,\nmust take a lamb, and when they had killed it, they must put its blood\nin a basin, and sprinkle the blood on their houses.\n\nGod told them to take a bunch of hyssop, and to sprinkle the top of the\ndoorway and the side posts with blood; and He promised that when He saw\nthe blood He would pass over that house, and not allow the destroying\nangel to enter.\n\nThat was why it was called The Lord's Passover.\n\nAnd when God saw the blood of the Lamb, He looked forward to the time\nwhen His own dear Son would be the Lamb of God which taketh away the\nsin of the world.\n\nDo you not think, children, that those Israelites made sure that the\nblood was sprinkled on their house? Can you not Picture them running\noutside to look before they shut themselves inside the door? And can\nyou not almost hear them saying, \"Yes, there is the blood of the Lamb!\nNow we are safe!\" And so hurry inside again, and stay there until the\nmorning, as they were commanded.\n\nAnd does not this question come home to your heart and mine to-day? Is\nthe blood of the Lamb of God sprinkled on my heart? Am I safe from the\npunishment of my sins because Jesus died for me?\n\nIf so, children, we may rest secure, and go out rejoicing on our\njourney towards the Promised Land in heaven.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGod told them also to take the flesh of the lamb and to roast it at the\nfire, and all who were in the house were to eat the Passover Supper.\nIt was a night to be remembered for ever, when the Lord delivered His\npeople out of Egypt! And we, too, may say\u2014\n\n\"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the\nfeast!\"\n\n\n\nXLIV. Bread from Heaven\n\nSo the Israelites left the Red Sea behind, and they went three days'\njourney into the wilderness, and found no water for them to drink.\n\nAt length they came to a place called Marah, where to their joy they\nfound some water. But when they came to taste it, the water was so\nbitter that they could not drink it.\n\nThen the people were very very angry with Moses, and blamed him very\nmuch.\n\nSo Moses cried to the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when\nhe had cast into the waters they were made sweet and nice, and the\npeople could drink.\n\nSoon after this the great company had eaten up all the bread they had\nbrought out of Egypt, and there were no shops to buy anything at, nor\nany corn growing in the wilderness.\n\nHere was a new trouble, so the people began to scold Moses and Aaron\nagain, saying they wished they had stayed in Egypt after all.\n\nThey forgot all about the cruel taskmasters, and the bricks, and their\nslavery; and they told Moses he had brought them into the wilderness\nto kill them with hunger! How soon they had forgotten all that God had\ndone for them, and how they had walked through the midst of the sea on\ndry land!\n\nGod was very grieved when He heard their murmurings; but He promised\nMoses that He would rain down bread from heaven for them to eat.\n\nSo that evening the Lord sent a number of little birds, called quails,\nfor the people to eat, and they satisfied their hunger; and in the\nmorning He sent them the bread from heaven which He had promised.\n\nPerhaps you will say, children, \"Loaves from heaven?\" I daresay the\nIsraelites thought the same, and wondered as you do.\n\nSo in the morning when they went out of their tents, the dew laid on\nthe ground, and when the dew was gone, the whole ground was covered\nwith little white seeds. And the Children of Israel called it Manna.\n\nThe Lord told them this was bread from heaven, and that they were to\ngather a measure\u2014called an omer\u2014full for each person, which would make\nthem enough bread for the whole day.\n\nOn the day before the Sabbath, they were told to gather two omers full\nfor every person, and to make it into cakes ready for the Sabbath day.\n\nThe taste of the cakes was like wafers made with honey.\n\nAnd now, children, here comes a very sweet little lesson for you and\nfor me.\n\nJesus is the true Bread from heaven, and every day, if we want to grow\nstrong, and brave, and good, we should\u2014before we begin the work, or\nplay, or school of our day\u2014kneel down and ask God to give us a sight of\nJesus, and to let us taste the sweetness of His love. This will be our\nBread from Heaven!\n\nBut soon came another difficulty. As the great company moved on their\njourney, they left the water which God had made sweet far behind them;\nand very soon they were thirsty again, and there was no water to drink!\n\nThey forgot all about the Manna and the sweetened water at Marah; and\nthey went and scolded Moses again.\n\nSo God told Moses to go to the Rock in Horeb, and to strike it with his\nRod, and water would flow out of it for the people to drink.\n\nMoses did exactly as God told him, and the water flowed from the Rock,\nand so the People drank and were no longer thirsty.\n\n\n\nXLV. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness\n\nThe children of Israel had been delivered from the bondage of the\nEgyptians, God had led them in the Wilderness by His pillar of cloud by\nday, and His pillar of fire by night; He had given them His Holy Law,\nwhich we call the Ten Commandments; and now God longed that the people\nshould be brought near to Himself, and that He should be able to dwell\namong them.\n\nSo while Moses was up on the mountain alone with God, God told him to\nmake tent or tabernacle where the people could bring their sacrifices,\nand where they might worship Him.\n\nSo the first thing Moses had to do was to tell the people that if they\nhad willing hearts, they were to bring gold and silver and brass; and\nblue and purple and scarlet and fine linen; and shittim wood; and oil\nfor light; and precious stones and spices; all these for an offering to\nthe Lord, to be used for setting up the Tabernacle.\n\n[Illustration: GIFTS FOR THE TABERNACLE.]\n\nAnd then within the Tabernacle there were to be some very holy things.\n\nIt was divided into two parts. One part was called the Holy Place, and\nthe other the Holiest of all.\n\nIn this Holiest place of all there was only one thing to be put, and\nthat was an Ark with the Angels (called Cherubims), shadowing the Mercy\nSeat above it.\n\nIn this Ark, or chest, God told Moses to put the slabs of stone with\nthe Commandments written upon it; and this reminds us of those words,\n\"Yea, Thy law is within my heart.\"\n\nAnd then, resting on the top of the Ark, or chest, was the Mercy Seat,\nwhere the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled, and where God's glory would\nshine from day to day, as He talked with Moses from above the Mercy\nSeat.\n\nThen in the other part of the Tabernacle, called the Holy place, there\nwere to be three things. An Altar of Incense, overlaid with gold;\nthe Table of Shewbread, where fresh loaves were to be put daily; and\nopposite to that, was the Golden Candlestick, all of gold, for the\nlight.\n\nGod chose Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur, and filled him with wisdom\nto make all the wonderful things of the Tabernacle, according to the\npattern God had given Moses, and to teach other wise-hearted men to\nhelp him in this holy work.\n\nSurrounding the Tabernacle was a fence made with boards and curtains.\n\nEvery part of the Tabernacle was to be made so that it might be taken\ndown, and carried from place to place, and put up again when the camp\nrested.\n\nOnly the priests might enter that enclosure hung with curtains. As the\npeople looked into it from the doorway, or looked down upon it from the\nhillside above it, the first thing that they would see shining out in\nthe light of the sun was the Brazen Altar, or Altar of Burnt Offering.\n\n[Illustration: HERE THE PRIESTS OFFERED UP THE SACRIFICES.]\n\nHere the Priests offered up the sacrifices which were brought by the\npeople, and God accepted them for the sake of Jesus, His Holy Son.\nFor, children, we cannot draw near to God to worship Him, without the\nperfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is \"the Lamb of God\nthat taketh away the sin of the world.\"\n\nThen there was the Laver of Brass, at which the Priests washed before\nthey went into the Tabernacle.\n\nI cannot tell you, children, all that this wonderful Tabernacle means,\nbut some day you will be able to understand how it all foreshadowed the\nloving life, and glorious work, of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus\nChrist.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSo when the Tabernacle was finished, \"then a cloud covered the tent of\nthe congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.\"\n\n\n\nXLVI. Breaking God's Law\n\nSo God told Moses to lead the Children of Israel to a mountain called\nSinai, and there He commanded all the congregation to wait while He\ngave them His Holy Law.\n\nMoses went up to the top of the mountain to meet God, and to hear Him\nspeak, and the people waited in the plains below.\n\nBut before God began to give His law to the people, He sent Moses down\nagain to them to warn them once more not to come near the mountain; and\neven Moses, who was God's faithful servant, felt that the sight was\nvery terrible, when he drew near to the thick darkness where God was.\n\nGod had many things to say to Moses, and many instructions to give him\nabout making the beautiful Tabernacle, where they were to worship Him;\nso that he was up in the mountains a very long time\u2014forty days and\nforty nights\u2014and by and by the people began to get tired of waiting.\n\n[Illustration: THE GLORY OF GOD.]\n\nThey began to distrust God, and people soon get disobedient who\ndistrust God! Then they said to Aaron, \"Make us gods to carry before\nus, for as for this Moses, we do not know what has become of him.\"\n\nI think Aaron was very sorry that the people were so foolish and so\nwicked. But he did as the people asked him. He made them a golden calf\nfor them to worship, and allowed them to play round it.\n\nJust as they were shouting and dancing and feasting, Moses began to\ncome down from talking with God.\n\nHe held in his hand two pieces or slabs of stone on which God Himself\nhad written His Holy Law\u2014those ten Commandments which we often hear\nread, and which begin with \"I am the Lord thy God which brought thee\nout of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, thou shalt have\nno other gods before ME.\"\n\nMoses was carrying these two slabs of stone, and he and his servant\nJoshua (who I think had waited somewhere on the mountain while Moses\ntalked with God) came down once more towards the camp. But when they\nhad got within sight of it, they heard the sound of shouting and\nsinging.\n\nThen Moses looked down over the edge of the mountain, and he saw the\ngolden calf set up, and the people worshipping it; and he was so\ngrieved and angry that he cast down the two slabs of stone, which had\nbeen made by God, and written on by God, right out of his hand down the\nsteep mountain side, and they were broken all to pieces!\n\nThen Moses and Joshua hastened down, and Moses stopped the people in\ntheir worship of the golden calf. He cast it into the fire and burnt\nit, and was very angry with Aaron and the people.\n\nThen he went to the Lord, and told Him all about it, confessing the\ngreat sin of the people, and asking Him to forgive it.\n\nGod is very pitiful and of tender mercy; and though He had to punish\nthe people for their sin by sending a plague among them, yet He did\nforgive them, and He told Moses to lead the people forward again, and\nto make two fresh slabs of stone, and told him to write His law upon\nthem over again.\n\nHow often we find in our daily lives, children, that when we mean to be\nvery good, after all, we do not keep to what we had intended to do.\n\nThe only way is for us to ask God to write His Holy Law in our hearts\nevery day, and to beg Him to keep us from doing what would displease\nHim. If we trust in our own strength we shall be sure to fail; but if\nwe look to Him and truly seek to please Him, He will help us to become\nmore and more like the Lord Jesus.\n\nAnd when we know that we have failed in anything, let us not wait a\nsingle moment, but lift our hearts to our Father in heaven, and ask\nHim, for Jesus' sake, to wash away our sin and make us pure and white\nagain in the precious Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.\n\n\n\nXLVII. A Great Victory\n\nSoon after the smiting of the Rock, out of which God made water to flow\nfor the people's thirst, another difficulty came.\n\nAs the great company of the Children of Israel travelled on, some\nenemies, called, Amalekites, came out against them, and tried to\nconquer them.\n\nSo Moses called Joshua and told him to choose men who could fight, to\ngo against the Amalekites; and that he would go to-morrow to the top of\nthe hill with the Rod of God in his hand.\n\nSo Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and\nMoses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.\n\nSo Moses stretched out his hand with the Rod of God in it, and then the\nChildren of Israel prevailed and conquered, but when he let down his\nhand, Amalek prevailed.\n\nBut poor Moses got very weary, and his hands seemed very heavy, so that\nhe could not hold them up any longer!\n\nBut Aaron and Hur thought of a very good plan. They took a large stone\nfor Moses to sit on, and they stood by him and held up his hands, one\non each side, and his hands were steady till the sun went down.\n\nAnd Joshua had a great victory over Amalek, because God fought for them.\n\nAnd God told Moses to write it down in a book, and tell Joshua about\nit, that He would utterly destroy the Amalekites.\n\nWe read afterwards in Deuteronomy xxv. 17, that God had been specially\nangry with the Amalekites because they had attacked the Israelites when\nthey were faint and weary, and had smitten the hindmost and weak ones\nin the camp instead of fighting bravely with the strong.\n\nIt seems to me that we may take this first battle of the Israelites as\na sort of picture of Satan's temptations and buffetings.\n\nHe attacks us where we are weakest. He perhaps tells us that God\nhas forgotten us for a little while, that we are like those weaker\nIsraelites in the camp, who were particularly exposed to the enemy!\n\nThen what must we do, when we feel Satan is too strong for us?\n\nWe must, like Joshua, resist with all the fighting power at our\ndisposal; and like Moses we must take the Rod of God\u2014the rod of faith\nand prayer\u2014and go up on the hill top and get nearer God!\n\nDo you wonder what the hill top is for us?\n\nIt is kneeling in our room and asking Him to help us.\n\nIt is looking up with our hearts, and saying one word of faith to Jesus!\n\nAnd when they had gained that great victory over Amalek, Moses built an\naltar to God, and offered a sacrifice, and he called the name of it\u2014\n\n\"Jehovah-Nissi,\" which means \"The Lord our Banner!\"\n\nHere is a hymn which has comforted and cheered numbers of people who\nhave found Satan\u2014like Amalek\u2014very strong!\n\n   Why should I fear the darkest hour,\n   Or tremble at the Tempter's power?\n   Jesus vouchsafes to be my Tower!\n\n   Though hot the fight, why quit the field?\n   Why must I either fly or yield,\n   Since Jesus is my mighty shield?\n\n   I know not what may soon betide,\n   Or how my wants shall be supplied;\n   But Jesus knows, and will provide.\n\n   Though sin would fill me with distress,\n   The Throne of Grace I dare address,\n   Since Jesus is my righteousness.\n\n   Though faint my prayers and cold my love,\n   My steadfast hope shall not remove,\n   While Jesus intercedes above.\n\n   Against me earth and hell combine:\n   But on my side is power divine:\n   Jesus is all, and He is mine!\n\n\n\nXLVIII. Caleb's Daughter\n\nThe old man whom you see in this picture is Caleb, one of the two\nfaithful spies who brought a good report of the land of Canaan.\n\nSo when after forty years, the land was divided among the people,\nJoshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron or Kirjath Arba: and Caleb\ndrove out from it three giants, and he made his home there.\n\nThere were still many enemies round him, so Caleb sent his soldiers to\nfight against Kirjath Sepher, and promised that the man who took the\ncity should have his daughter Achsah for his wife.\n\nSo Othniel the son of Kenaz was the successful one. At length the\nwedding day came. When Achsah was starting for her husband's home,\nshe begged Othniel to ask her father to give her a field as a wedding\npresent.\n\n[Illustration: HE GAVE HER THE UPPER SPRINGS AND THE NETHER SPRINGS.]\n\nCaleb seems to have agreed to this; but Achsah knew he was rich as well\nas loving; so she alighted off her ass, and ran to his side, \"Give me\na blessing!\" she said. \"You have given me a south land\u2014give me also\nsprings of water!\"\n\nAnd he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJesus says to us to-day, \"How much more shall your Father which is in\nheaven, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.\"\n\n\n\nXLIX. The First King\n\nSo the child Samuel grew up and became a prophet of the Lord, and\nhe judged the people and helped them in all their difficulties, by\nencouraging them to seek God and trust in Him.\n\nBut the Children of Israel often turned back from the Lord and followed\ntheir own ways, even making idols for themselves like the Canaanites\nhad.\n\nThis grieved Samuel very much, because he knew that it would make God\nvery angry with them.\n\nAt length Samuel was getting to be an old man, and the people got tired\nof being judged by his sons, who were not very good and faithful young\nmen, and they asked Samuel to make a king to rule them, and go to war\nwith them as they saw other nations do.\n\nThis was the greatest grief of all to Samuel, because the Lord was\ntheir King! But nothing that he could say would turn them from their\nwish to have a king whom they could see, and who would lead them to\nbattle against their enemies.\n\nThe Lord told Samuel that he could do as the people asked; but that in\nchoosing an earthly king they had rejected the Lord, who had brought\nthem up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered them from all their\nfoes.\n\nThere was at this time a man of the tribe of Benjamin whose name was\nSaul. He was a very handsome young man, and was so tall that he was\nhead and shoulders above everyone else. His father's name was Kish.\n\nOne day, the asses belonging to Kish strayed away and got lost, and\nSaul and his servant went a very long way to seek for them.\n\nThey searched for a long time, but could not find them. At last, the\nservant suggested that they should go to the prophet who lived near the\nplace to which they had travelled, for he thought perhaps he might tell\nthem where to find the asses.\n\nSo they came to the city where Samuel the prophet lived, and when they\nmade enquiries, they found that Samuel was going to offer a sacrifice\nthere that very day.\n\nNow the Lord had told Samuel that He would bring the young man who was\nto be king to him, that he might anoint him.\n\nSo Samuel met Saul and invited him to dinner, and told him that he\nwanted to speak to him presently, and that he should go back to-morrow.\n\"And as for the asses,\" he said, \"that were lost three days ago, they\nare found!\"\n\nSo when they had eaten their meal, Samuel and Saul went on the housetop\nand Samuel talked with him for a long time; and early the next morning\nSamuel took a vial of oil and poured it on Saul's head, and told him he\nwas anointed to be King over God's inheritance.\n\nHe told him also that he was to go to Gilgal and wait there seven days,\nuntil he came down to him to offer a sacrifice to the Lord.\n\nBut now, children, we come to Saul's first disobedience. Saul waited\nseven days, but he forgot that God's prophet had said \"wait seven days,\neven till I come to offer the sacrifice,\" and when Samuel delayed to\ncome for a few hours, Saul took upon himself to offer the sacrifice.\n\nThen Samuel came! And Saul hurried out to meet him. But Samuel drew\nback from his greeting, and told him he had been very disobedient, and\nthat the Lord would choose someone else to be the king; one who would\nkeep God's commandments and love Him with all his heart!\n\nSo Samuel went back to Gilgal, and Saul went to fight against the\nPhilistines.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBy and by God sent another message to Saul by Samuel the prophet, and\nthis was the message: \"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I remember what\nAmalek did to Israel . . . when he came up from Egypt, now go and smite\nAmalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not.\"\n\nSo Saul went to fight against Amalek and conquered them; but again he\nwas disobedient. He saved the king and did not kill him as he had been\ncommanded, and he also saved all the best of the sheep and oxen.\n\nThen the Lord said to Samuel, \"It repenteth Me that I have made Saul\nking, for he hath not kept My commandments.\"\n\nAnd it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all that night.\n\nAnd when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, the king\nhurried to him and told him he had done all that the Lord had told him\nto do!\n\nBut Samuel stopped him. \"What is the meaning of this bleating of sheep\nthat I hear, then?\" he asked.\n\nAnd Saul said, \"The people saved the best to sacrifice to God!\"\n\nAnd Samuel said, \"Do you think that the Lord has as much pleasure in\nsacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is\nbetter than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Because\nthou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee\nfrom being king.\"\n\nAnd as Samuel sorrowfully turned away, he knew that he should never see\nSaul's face again.\n\nThis is a very sad and solemn story, children.\n\nLet us all be aware of little disobediences, lest they should grow into\ngreater ones.\n\nGod will dwell in the humble and contrite heart, which trembles at his\nword. He will give grace to the lowly.\n\nLet us pray, as David did in Psalm cxix., \"With my whole heart have I\nsought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments!\"\n\nAnd then this promise shall be ours: \"He that doeth the will of God\nabideth for ever!\"","title":"Sunday stories : $b Stories from the Old and New Testaments","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28829}