{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74293/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74293","id":"gutenberg_74293","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74293","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Transcriber's notes: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\nNew original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the\npublic domain.\n\n\n\n                           [Illustration]\n\n                             Chats with\n                              Children\n\n                           [Illustration]\n\n                           AMY LE FEUVRE\n\n\n                Bishop Taylor Smith, the Evangelical\n                  British Chaplain-General, said:\n           \"Miss LE FEUVRE'S books need no introduction,\n                    they are always INSPIRING.\"\n\n\n\nBooks by\n\nAmy le Feuvre\n\n    \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\nPROBABLE SONS.\nHEATHER'S MISTRESS.\nTEDDY'S BUTTON.\nDWELL DEEP.\nDREAMIKINS.\nTHE CARVED CUPBOARD.\nERIC'S GOOD NEWS.\nA LITTLE LISTENER.\nA PUZZLING PAIR.\nA DAUGHTER OF THE SEA.\nTHE DISCOVERY OF DAMARIS.\nCHILDREN OF THE CRESCENT.\nUS, AND OUR CHARGE.\nMISS LAVENDER'S BOY.\nHAREBELL'S FRIEND.\nA THOUGHTLESS SEVEN.\nON THE EDGE OF A MOOR.\nDICKY'S BROTHER.\n  And many others.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CHAT I. Photo: Wallace, Sidmouth. \"A Lovely Old Garden.\"\n _Frontispiece._]\n\n\n\n                         Chats with\n\n                          Children\n\n                             or\n\n                  Pearls for Young People\n\n               Strung from the Word of Truth\n\n\n                             By\n\n                       Amy le Feuvre\n\n        Author of \"Probable Sons,\" \"Teddy's Button,\"\n                  \"Eric's Good News,\" etc.\n\n\n               WITH FOUR COLOURED AND EIGHT\n               BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                      [Illustration]\n\n\n                    PICKERING & INGLIS\n\n        14 PATERNOSTER ROW      229 BOTHWELL STREET\n          LONDON, E.C.4             GLASGOW, C.2\n\n           And most Booksellers and Colporteurs\n\n\n\n            Made and Printed in Great Britain\n\n\n\n                        CONTENTS\n\n                          \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n  CHAT I. Outside and Inside\n\n  CHAT II. We are His Workmanship\n\n  CHAT III. The Way to Heaven\n\n  CHAT IV. A Knock at the Door\n\n  CHAT V. How to Tackle Giants\n\n  CHAT VI. A Free Gift\n\n  CHAT VII. To Be Ready\n\n  CHAT VIII. The Unknown Visitor\n\n  CHAT IX. Our Inheritance\n\n           The City Bright\n\n           Stories Illustrating Chats\n\n           Guide to Illustrations\n\n           Key to Bible Quotations\n\n\n\n                     ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n                          \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                 Illustrations in Colour\n\n\n   THE POTTER'S WHEEL\n\n   A MEASURE OF MEAL\n\n   SELLING SPARROWS IN TEMPLE\n\n   WASHING FEET\n\n\n\n           Illustrations in Black and White\n\n\n   CHAT I. A LOVELY OLD GARDEN. Frontispiece.\n\n   CHAT I. AN INVALID BOY\n\n   CHAT II. A REAL TOY BOAT\n\n   CHAT II. GATHERING FRUIT\n\n   CHAT III. CHILDREN AND PET DOG\n\n   CHAT III. LOST BOY AND POLICEMAN\n\n   CHAT V. RAILWAY TRAIN AND STATION\n\n   CHAT VII. THINK ABOUT IT SERIOUSLY\n\n\n\n               Pictures for Painting\n\n      ARE PRINTED ON THE BACK OF BLACK PRINT.\n\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20141. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20142. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20143. WHAT DOES THIS REPRESENT?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20144. WHO ARE THESE TWO PERSONS?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20145. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20146. WHAT GREAT EVENT IS THIS?\n\n   Pictures to Paint\u20147. WHAT NEW TESTAMENT SCENE IS THIS?\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CHAT I. \"If your Body Is Hurt or Ill.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20141. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?]\n\n\n\n                      CHATS WITH\n\n                       CHILDREN\n\n                   BY AMY LE FEUVRE\n\n\n\n                        CHAT I\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                      \"Outside\n                         and\n                       Inside\"\n\n\n\n              \"Man looketh on the\n               outward appearance,\n               but the Lord looketh\n               on the heart.\"\n                     (1 Samuel 16.7)\n\n\n\n                        CHAT I\n\n                 \"Outside and Inside\"\n\n   \"Man looketh on the outward appearance,\n    but the Lord looketh on the heart.\"\n                         (1 Samuel 16.7)\n\nOUTSIDE and inside. How different they are! I remember a very ugly\nlooking house, which I used to love as a little girl. It faced the\nstreet, with straight rows of windows, bare and square, and not a\ncreeper or flower to be seen. But inside, what a delicious comfortable\nhouse it was! And a lovely old garden behind, hidden and surrounded\nby high walls. All the flowers, all the beautiful china and pictures,\nand pretty old-fashioned furniture were to be seen after you entered\nit, and not before. I have seen many pretty looking houses since, some\nquite charming with their gabled windows and creeper clad walls, yet\nsome of them inside, are damp and ugly and uncomfortable.\n\nWhen you go to a bookseller's to choose yourself a book do you choose\nit for its cover, or for the story inside? Some of the dryest dullest\nbooks have the most handsome binding, and some of the most thrilling\nstories are wrapped up in a very poor cover.\n\nWhich do you value most, the envelope, or the letter inside? Your\npurse, or the money that is in it? Do you like best the shell of a nut,\nor the kernel inside? Which is most important, the case of a clock or\nwatch, or the works inside? Do you like the outside of your chocolate\nbox best, or the chocolates inside?\n\nOutside and inside! Nearly always the inside of a thing is the thing\nthat matters. The outside is a mere case or covering for the treasure\nwithin.\n\nSo it is with us. We are so apt to judge people by the outside look of\nthem. It is one of the pathetic facts in life, that pretty children,\nand beautiful girls, and handsome boys, get most love from the world\naround them. And yet their souls inside may not be nearly so beautiful\nas plain featured children. A crooked body may contain a lovely soul.\nA lovely body may contain a crooked and distorted soul. Outside and\ninside\u2014how different they may be. Our verse says:\n\n   \"Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the\nheart.\"\n\nI want you to sit still for a few minutes and think about this. You\nhave your outside, and your inside. Your body and your soul. Your\nbody is simply a case for your soul, to be the means of moving and\nthinking and talking and acting as your soul desires. I am not going\nto confuse you by talking about your mind, or intellect, or spirit. We\nare composed of soul and body. Our souls are the only part of us that\nmatters, for they can never die; our body may wear out, and die, drop\naway from us like an old garment, but our souls live on. They are the\nliving part of us that God loves and guards, that He sent His only Son\nto die for, because He wanted them in Heaven above.\n\nA great many people care for your body. Your parents rightly try to\nkeep it in health. They send for a doctor if your body is hurt or ill.\nThey feed it, and buy clothes for it. Nearly all the shops in a big\ntown are selling things for your body. It needs a lot of things to keep\nit well. Food and drink, fires in winter, a soft bed at night for its\nrest and refreshment. Shelter from storm, shade from great heat.\n\nSome of us take the greatest care of our bodies, but never, never think\nof the welfare of our souls. Now in these little chats with you, I\nwant to get at your souls, to the inside thinking, loving part of you,\nto the bit of you that ought to be touching God and living with Him,\nwhilst your bodies are running about and enjoying this beautiful earth.\n\nGod thinks most about your souls, or hearts, as they are often called\nin the Bible.\n\nWhat kind of a soul have you?\n\nYou are taught to take care of your body, to feed it, to clothe it, not\nto do things which might hurt it. Your parents want your body to grow\nbigger and stronger every year.\n\nIs your soul growing bigger and stronger too?\n\nAre you feeding it? Does it get hurt or damaged?\n\nNow it may be comparatively easy to take care of our bodies, but it is\nquite impossible for us to take care of our souls. There is only One\nPerson who made them, and who knows just what they want, and has the\nright food to give them. This Person you know is God.\n\nWe are told that when our bodies die, our spirits or souls return to\nGod who gave them to us. They belong to God. He is the only One who can\nkeep them safely, and make them grow strong and beautiful. We may not\nall have beautiful bodies, but we can all have beautiful souls, if we\nhand them over to God to keep.\n\nIs this difficult to do?\n\nLet us talk about it a little.\n\nThe Devil wants to get possession of your souls to destroy them. He\ntries to keep us away from God because he knows that our souls will\nthrive and blossom into beauty, and be kept in perfect safety if we\nhand them over to God.\n\nSo he employs different means of keeping us far away from God.\n\nHe surrounds us with boys and girls who never think about their souls\nat all, and they persuade us that saying prayers and reading the Bible,\nand going to Church or Chapel, is all very dull and stupid. We must\nhave a jolly time, and enjoy ourselves, and whatever we do, must never\nturn \"pi,\" or be a prig.\n\nThen lessons, and games, and treats all follow each other so quickly\nthat we feel we haven't time to think about God.\n\nWe are too busy, too occupied, too full of interesting plans and\npurposes to think about our souls. The Devil takes care to keep us\nbusy. What can we do? Only one thing. Come straight to the Lord Jesus\nChrist, kneel down in any quiet corner, ask Him when we go to bed at\nnight, and when we get up in the morning to take our soul into His\nloving keeping.\n\nHe will do the rest. He will remind us just in time before we are going\nto give way to temper, before we're going to tell a lie; He will give\nus courage to stand up for the right, and to refuse to join in any\nwrong doing, and He will give us sunshine and happiness in our souls.\n\nWe are told that \"He is able to keep what is committed to Him.\"\n\nHe will never fail us.\n\nGod has loved our souls so much that He sent Christ to save them from\nthe Devil's hold and power. He will wash them in His precious Blood and\nhold them in His keeping till He calls them to the golden Unseen Land\nabove.\n\nWill you to-day give your soul, your heart to God? May He help you to\ndo so.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CHAT II. \"A Real Toy Boat.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20142. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?]\n\n\n\n                       CHAT II\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                        \"His\n                     Workmanship\"\n\n\n\n              \"For we are His workmanship,\n               created in Christ Jesus\n               unto good works, which\n               God hath before ordained\n               that we should walk in them.\"\n                     (Ephesians 2.10)\n\n\n\n[Illustration: THE POTTER. Jeremiah 18.2-4.]\n\n\n\n                       CHAT II\n\n               \"We are His Workmanship\"\n\n   \"For we are His workmanship, created\n    in Christ Jesus unto good works, which\n    God hath before ordained that we should\n    walk in them.\"\n                          (Ephesians 2.10)\n\nHAVE you ever made anything? I am sure you have. It may have only been\na paper boat, or a doll's frock, but you were very proud of it at the\ntime. Perhaps one of you may have made a real toy boat and taken it\ndown to the pond to sail it. How anxious you were to see if it was a\nsuccess or a failure! How pleased you were when some grown up person\ntook it into his hand and looked at it, and said, \"It does you credit!\"\nThink how busy people are, all over the world, making things\u2014watches,\nclocks, motors, aeroplanes, guns, books, pictures, machines of all\nsorts and sizes.\n\nIf you talk to them, you will soon find that they are all anxious about\none thing, and that is for their work and invention to be a success, to\nfulfil the purpose for which they made it. They want their watches and\nclocks to keep good time, their motors and air machines to move swiftly\nand easily, and not to be failures. They don't want their inventions to\nlie useless and idle, and what is the good of them if they do that?\n\nAlmighty God has made this world and all the wonderful and beautiful\nthings in it, but of all the things that He has made, the most precious\nin His sight is a human soul. There are a great many of us. Some are\nblack, some are white, some are born in rich circumstances, some in\npoverty.\n\nSome are strong. Some are weak. But we are all His workmanship, and He\nmade us\u2014each one of us for a purpose.\n\nAsk yourself this question:\n\nFor what purpose did God make me? Why did He want me in the world?\n\nThis is quite certain. God put you in this world to carry out some work\nfor Him. He made you for it. And He wants you to be a success and not a\nfailure; He wants you to bring Him credit. As the Bible says, you were\ncreated for His glory. Have you brought God any glory by your life? Do\npeople want to follow Christ because of you?\n\nNow, does this seem impossible?\n\nHave you a garden? And have you any fruit trees in it? If so, in the\nautumn you will expect fruit from them. A gardener once said to a lady\nwho was walking round the garden of which he had charge:\n\n\"I always have success with my plants. I never keep anything that does\nnot bring me credit. If plants don't flower as they ought, I pitch them\naway; if my apples won't bear, I root them up.\"\n\nAh! How good, and patient, and long-suffering is our Heavenly Father\nwith His plants and fruit trees! What fruit are you bearing for Him?\nWhat sweet scented flowers are blossoming on your stalk? Have you been\na failure or a success in His garden?\n\n\"His workmanship!\"\n\nThink of it when you are quarrelling and stamping with rage, when\nyou're sulking, when you're telling untruths, and doing things in\nsecret which you know you ought not to do.\n\nGod's workmanship! Did He make me for this? I am not bringing Him\ncredit. I am bringing dishonour upon my Maker. I am like a watch that\nwon't keep time, that is useless, that is no good to anyone.\n\nThere are several failures mentioned in the Bible.\n\nThere is the case of the \"fig tree\" that never bore any figs.\n\nThere were the \"lamps without oil,\" the lamps that gave no light to the\nVirgins who held them.\n\nThere was the case of a watchman who was blind.\n\nAnd there were \"wells without water.\"\n\nThere are boys and girls now running about and enjoying themselves.\nHaving a good time, and only thinking of pleasing themselves.\n\nThey are fruit trees in God's garden. Yet so far they have never\nbrought Him fruit, though He comes again and again so patiently and\nlovingly, to see if there is any sign or beginning of fruit bearing.\n\nThey are lamps made to shine for their Master, but no light comes from\nthem. They are useless.\n\nThey are wanted to be watchmen for God, looking out for the coming of\ntheir Master, telling others about Him and warning them of danger when\nit comes. But they see nothing. They are blind.\n\nThey are wells. Made by God to contain the Water of Life, and to be the\nmeans of refreshing and watering others. But they are dry and empty, or\nfilled with rubbish, choked with refuse\u2014and not a drop of water in them.\n\nGod's workmanship! And yet such a failure!\n\n\"Well,\" you say, \"I can't help myself. It comes natural to me. I can't\nbe good.\"\n\nDo you want to be good? To be what God means you to be?\n\nI heard a preacher once say that at the Judgment Day when we shall all\nhave to appear before our Maker, it may be that a picture will be held\nup before us, a picture of what God meant us to be when He made us and\nput us in this world. And as we look upon it, and think of what we\nmight have been, and what we have been, we shall be filled with horror,\nand regret, and remorse. The contrast will condemn us so utterly!\n\nHow can we be a success instead of a failure?\n\nIf a watch or machine goes wrong, the best thing is to take it back to\nits maker. He will put it right, even if he has to make it over again.\n\nDear boys and girls, if you take yourself back to your Maker, and put\nyourselves in His hands to be made what He wants you to be, He will do\nit.\n\nThe fact is, we were never meant to live a single day in this world\nwithout God helping and holding us. The Lord Jesus Christ came to die\nfor our sins, but He also came to show us how to live in this world\nwith God holding our hands.\n\nKneel down in some quiet corner by yourself, and ask God to take your\nsoul into His keeping and never let you go. You don't know what a\ndifference it will make in your life. You will not be less happy, but\nmuch more happy. And He will be able to teach you and show you your\nwork day by day.\n\nAnd if you do it, you will bring glory instead of dishonour upon the\nOne who made you.\n\n\"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,\nwhich God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CHAT II. \"In the Autumn you expect Fruit.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20143. WHAT DOES THIS REPRESENT?]\n\n\n\n                       CHAT III\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                       The Way\n                          to\n                        Heaven\n\n\n\n              \"I am the way . . . no man\n               cometh unto the Father,\n               but by Me.\"\n                     (John 14.6)\n\n\n\n                       CHAT III\n\n                  The Way to Heaven\n\n   \"I am the way . . . no man cometh unto\n    the Father, but by Me.\"\n                         (John 14.6)\n\nJUST suppose one day that you were out for a walk, and you suddenly\ncame upon a road you had never noticed before, and which had a\nsign-post at the corner of it saying:\n\n\"Way to Heaven.\"\n\nWould you like to walk along it? I think a great many would. Some might\nsay:\n\n\"I've been trying to get there all my life, but it's so difficult to\nfind the way to it. And now here it is at last.\"\n\nPerhaps you would say:\n\n\"I should like to feel I was on the way there, but I don't want to\narrive there just yet. I mean to get there at last.\"\n\nI don't think there is a single boy or girl in the world who would not\nlike to feel certain that when they died, they would go to Heaven.\n\nBut if we want to get there when we die, we must start going along the\nroad to it while we are alive.\n\nLet us talk a little bit about Heaven.\n\nLittle children like it, because it sounds like a happy fairyland to\nthem. Nobody to hurt them or quarrel with them, no darkness, lovely\nmusic, white robes, rivers and fruit trees, paths of gold. Nothing\nto be afraid of, no sickness, no pain, every one full of joy and\nhappiness, lots of little angel children to play with. Who would not\nlike to be there?\n\nWhen you grow older you will still like to think of such a beautiful\nHeaven, but you will want to go there to meet your old friends, your\nparents, your brothers and sisters who have gone before you, and above\nall, you will want to meet your Saviour whom you have learnt to love.\n\nDo you know the road to Heaven?\n\nSo many start out for it, and lose their way.\n\nAnd I will tell you a secret.\n\nBoys and girls are much nearer the Road when they are small, than when\nthey get bigger.\n\nIt is easier to find when you are young, than when you grow up.\n\nDo you remember a little verse in the Bible which says:\n\n  \"I love them that love Me, and those that seek Me early shall find Me.\"\n\nWhat has this to do with the road to Heaven?\n\nI will tell you in a few minutes.\n\nJust before the Lord Jesus died He told His disciples He was going away\nfrom them to prepare a Place for them in God's House which is Heaven.\nHe said: \"You know where I am going, and you know the Way.\"\n\nThomas, one of the disciples, said in a puzzled sort of way:\n\n\"But we don't know where You are going, and how can we know the Way?\"\n\nThen Jesus said:\n\n   \"I am the Way...no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.\"\n\nHe had told them this over and over again, but they did not seem to\nunderstand.\n\nJust like us. So few people understand it.\n\nJesus had told them once before:\n\n   \"I am the Door. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.\"\n\nSo if the Lord Jesus is the Door into Heaven, and if He is the Way to\nHeaven, we have got to find Him, and He will take us safely into His\nFather's House.\n\nHow can we find Him?\n\nI met a tiny boy once trotting along a busy street. He had no hat on,\nand was only about three years old. Suddenly a big dog sprang playfully\non him. He screamed in terror and fled. I took him up in my arms, and\nhe put his little arms round my neck and clung tightly to me.\n\n\"Take me home! Take me home!\" he cried.\n\nBut he couldn't tell me where his home was, and I did not know. I put\nhim down on the path again, when the dog was out of sight, hoping he\nwould trot in the right direction. I asked several people if they\nknew him. No one did. I walked up one road with him and then another;\nand was afraid I would have to take him to the Police Station, when\nsuddenly a young woman met us. She had come from his home, and was\nlooking everywhere for him. I gave him into her charge, and he went\naway quite happily. I had tried to help him, but I was unable to do so.\nI could only hand him over to the one who knew the way.\n\nThe Lord Jesus Christ is always looking for boys and girls. They may\nask grown up people, teachers, and preachers to help them, but they\ncannot take them to Heaven, they can only hand them over, as I did, to\nthe One who is looking for them.\n\nJesus Christ is close to you. He came down to this world to be the Door\nfrom earth to Heaven. He died to open that Door wide to every one who\ncomes to Him and trusts Him.\n\nWill you come to Him to-day just as you are, and ask Him to take you by\nthe hand and never leave go of you till you have arrived inside Heaven?\nHe will do it. He has said: \"Those that seek Me early shall find Me.\" \"No\nman cometh unto the Father, but by Me.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHAT III. \"A Big Dog.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20144. WHO ARE THESE TWO PERSONS?]\n\n\n\nThe Lord Jesus Christ is the only Way to Heaven.\n\nHave you ever read the \"Pilgrim's Progress?\" Do you remember how safe\nChristiana and her children were when they had Mr. Greatheart walking\nin front of them to defend them from all dangers, and keep them in the\nright path to the Golden City?\n\nI always felt so sorry for Christian because he had no Mr. Greatheart.\nWe all have our Mr. Greatheart. It is the Lord Jesus Himself. He goes\nbefore us and leads us by the hand. It will be easy walking with Him.\nWe shall be happy and safe. Oh, dear boys and girls, do come to Him;\ndo take Him for your Mr. Greatheart. Do trust yourselves body and soul\ninto His loving keeping.\n\nThen you may be sure that you have found the Way to Heaven, and are\nwalking in it.\n\n\n\n                       CHAT IV\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                       A Knock\n                          at\n                       the Door\n\n\n\n              \"Behold, I stand at the\n               door, and knock: if any\n               man hear My voice and\n               open the door, I will\n               come in to him, and\n               will sup with him, and\n               he with Me.\"\n                     (Rev. 3.20)\n\n\n\n                       CHAT IV\n\n                A Knock at the Door\n\n   \"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:\n    if any man hear My voice and open the door,\n    I will come in to him, and will sup with\n    him, and he with Me.\"\n                         (Rev. 3.20)\n\nLET us think now for a short time about something that you see and use\nevery day, that sometimes brings safety, and sometimes danger, and that\ndivides one from the other. Can you guess? You have a good many of them\nin your house, and you are moving them all day long. We are going to\ntalk about a door.\n\nHow impossible it is to open a door and walk in, if it is locked and\nbolted against us! Open doors take us into delightful places, but they\ncan also take us into prison. What important parts of a house they are!\nHow safe you feel in bed at night knowing that all the house doors are\nshut and fastened inside!\n\nA door is sometimes a man's salvation. Here is a man fleeing for his\nlife! He is unarmed and defenceless, another man is pursuing him sword\nin hand. He means to kill him. The frightened man comes to his house,\nhe dashes in at his door. He draws the stout bolt and locks it. His\nenemy is outside. He breathes freely.\n\nWe are glad we have a door to shut out our enemies, but do we ever shut\nout our friends?\n\nThere was an old woman who lived in a little cottage in Scotland, not\nvery far from Balmoral, the Castle that belongs to our Kings and Queens.\n\nWhen Queen Victoria was alive, she was very fond of visiting some of\nthe old people who lived near her. One afternoon this old woman sat in\nher cottage alone. She was in a very bad temper. She had quarrelled\nwith her nearest neighbour, and because some of her friends had been\ngossiping about her, she shut her door and locked it, saying viciously\nto herself:\n\n\"Ay, I'll keep myself to myself in future. I won't let 'em in when they\ncome to try and get a dish o' tea out o' me.\"\n\nPresently she heard a soft knock at her door.\n\nShe set her lips and nodded her head.\n\n\"Knock awa',\" she whispered.\n\nThe knock was repeated louder now.\n\n\"Knock awa' till doomsday,\" she called out in a angry voice. \"I'll not\nlet ye in!\"\n\nThe knock was not repeated, and footsteps outside were heard going away.\n\nThe old woman nodded her head and smiled.\n\n\"They won't trouble me for a bit,\" she assured herself.\n\nBut she did not smile the next day when she was told that her Queen had\nstood outside her door, and knocked for admission, and she had refused\nto let her in.\n\nThe Queen never visited her again.\n\nThere was a poor man in Liverpool who could not pay his rent. He\nlived in a little house by himself, and was in great trouble lest his\nlandlord should turn him out. One day he heard a knock at his door, and\nthinking it was his landlord, he locked the door and slipped out into\nhis back garden, hoping people would think he was out.\n\nThe knocking went on for some time, then ceased, and the man crept\nback into his house by and by, and thought he had been very clever in\nescaping his landlord. But in a few days the landlord sent the bailiffs\nin to sell him up, and then too late, he heard that a rich friend had\ncome to see him a few days before on his way to America. It was he who\nhad knocked, and had been shut out, and the poor man knew that he would\nhave given him the money for his rent, if he had opened the door.\n\n[Illustration: A MEASURE OF MEAL. Matthew 13.33.]\n\nNow, we have each of us a little house of our own inside us, with a\ndoor which we can open or shut at our will. It is the door of our\nheart. We let in a good many visitors who spoil our house for us, and\nstain it with sin. Temper, envy, pride, cowardice, selfishness, and\ndeceit all work havoc in our hearts, but there is one Royal Visitor who\ncomes and knocks and pleads with us to let Him in.\n\n\"My son, my daughter,\" He says, \"give Me your heart!\"\n\n\"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice and\nopen the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he\nwith Me.\"\n\nIt is the Voice of Jesus. Have you ever heard it? He comes to every boy\nand girl, for He loves them all. He wants you to know Him and love Him,\nand if He seems a stranger to you now, He will not be a stranger long\nif you open the door of your heart to Him. He will cleanse your heart\nwhiter than snow if you let Him in. He will help you to guard the door\nagainst your enemies, and all those wicked spirits who are trying to\nspoil your happiness and life.\n\nA young woman said to me one day:\n\n\"I'm expecting a visitor soon. It's my mother from the country. My\nhusband always likes to see her, for she brings us such a lot of\npresents when she comes. She has a farm, and she brings us butter and\neggs, and chickens.\"\n\n\"And I suppose you like to see her too?\" I said smiling.\n\n\"Oh, yes; but not for what she brings. She's my mother, you see, and I\ndearly love her!\"\n\nNow, children, the Lord Jesus Christ brings presents with Him when He\ncomes into your heart. He brings pardon for your past sins, peace,\nand joy, and power to fight your enemies and overcome them. Will you\nremember those three presents all beginning with a \"P\":\n\nPardon, Peace, Power.\n\nThey will last you all your life, and as you grow older, you will value\nthem all the more.\n\nBut I think you will soon learn to love the Lord Jesus for Himself,\nand not for what He brings you. He wants your love. And, remember, He\nhas loved you all your life long, and He wants to live with you down\nhere in your heart, guiding you, teaching you, and helping you in all\nyour troubles and difficulties every day. Open your door to your best\nFriend, invite Him to come in and make your heart His dwelling place.\n\nIs it not wonderful that the King of kings should wish to enter your\nheart?\n\nListen to what God says. He tells us of the two places in which He\ndwells:\n\n\"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name\nis Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a\ncontrite and humble spirit.\"\n\n   \"Oh Jesu, Thou art standing\n      Outside the fast closed door;\n    In lowly patience waiting\n      To pass the threshold o'er.\n\n   \"Oh Jesu, Thou art pleading\n      In accents meek and low,\n   'I died for you, My children,\n      And will ye treat Me so?'\n\n   \"Oh Lord, with shame and sorrow\n      We open now the door:\n    Dear Saviour, enter, enter,\n      And leave us nevermore.\"\n\n\n\n                        CHAT V\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                    How to Tackle\n                       Giants\n\n\n\n              \"Without Me ye\n               can do nothing.\"\n                     (John 15.5)\n\n\n\n                        CHAT V\n\n                 How to Tackle Giants\n\n   \"Without Me ye can do nothing.\"\n                         (John 15.5)\n\nTHERE is nothing we dislike more when we are very small than to be\nhelped.\n\nHow often you hear a little boy say:\n\n\"I can do it, Mother; let me do it myself.\"\n\nIt may be cutting up his food with a knife and fork; it may be washing\nhis face and hands, or any other simple thing. When he gets older he\nthinks, he can do bigger things on his own, without anyone's help at\nall. And very often experience teaches him that he is not so clever as\nhe thinks himself to be.\n\nNow all Christian boys and girls have a great many difficulties and\ntemptations in their lives.\n\nThey make many resolves to be good, they want to be good. They mean to\nstart the day well, but somehow before they know it, their tempers have\ngot the better of them, and the day is clouded by tears and passion.\n\nOne of the reasons that the Lord Jesus came down from Heaven and lived\namongst people on the earth, was to show them how He wanted to help\nthem on their way to Heaven. He told His disciples just before He went\nback to Heaven:\n\n   \"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.\"\n\nAnd He also said this to them:\n\n   \"Without Me, ye can do nothing.\"\n\nHave you ever watched trains coming and going in a railway station?\nSometimes there is a long line of carriages, but no engine. Can those\ncarriages move along the rails by themselves? No; they may be perfectly\nready for passengers; the lights in them may be bright, the passengers\nmay get in and take their places, but without the engine, they can do\nnothing. The engine comes along, there may be only one link joined to\nit, and the whole train, carrying hundreds of passengers with their\nluggage, will move along the line without any effort. Swiftly, easily\nit glides along.\n\n[Illustration: CHAT III. \"Taken to the Police Station.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20145. WHAT BIBLE SCENE IS THIS?]\n\n\n\nNow take the engine. Can it move itself? Not without the steam power\nwithin. If there is no steam, there is no movement. The wheels of the\nengine cannot move themselves. Without the steam, the engine can do\nnothing.\n\nHave you seen great guns being fired? What sends the great shells\nflying through the air for miles and miles? Can they make themselves\ngo? No, it is just a spark that ignites the powder. Without that spark\nthe shells, the guns can do nothing.\n\nSo we, capable as we may think ourselves, can do nothing unless we are\nlinked on\u2014or are in touch with\u2014our Lord and Master. \"Without Me ye can\ndo nothing.\"\n\nDo you think you can get on without Him?\n\nJust think hard a minute. Sometimes you get up in the morning and you\nfeel good! You say to yourself: \"f shan't lose my temper to-day,\" or,\n\"I shall do nothing to be scolded about.\"\n\nAnd almost before you know it, you have given way to temper, or you\nhave got into disgrace for doing something wrong. How was it? You can't\nexplain it. \"I forget,\" you say. Who can remind you just in time? The\nOne who offers to help you all day long.\n\nImagine a big battle about to take place, and the soldiers going into\nit without any officer or general to tell them what to do. Would those\nsoldiers get the victory over well ordered troops coming against them?\nNo\u2014never. And you will never get the victory over your enemies unless\nyour Captain is leading you, and you do what He tells you. \"Without Me\nye can do nothing.\"\n\nYou must remember that the Devil with his hosts of wicked spirits are\nout to try to get you to sin every day and all day. What chance have\nyou against the Devil? None at all, without your Captain's strong\nloving Hand holding yours, and helping you to fight.\n\nA little boy was bullied by a big boy. He tried to stand up to him,\nbut was knocked down at once. And then he caught sight of his father\nwalking down the street. In an instant, he picked himself up and darted\nto his father's side.\n\n\"Hold my hand tight, Daddy,\" he cried.\n\nThe father did so.\n\nThen the little fellow called to the bully to come on. \"I'm ready for\nyou now,\" he said; \"I'll beat you easy!\"\n\nHe was secure and safe in his father's hold, and he feared nobody, and\nnothing. That is how we can feel when Jesus is holding us by the hand.\nWill He do it? This is what He says in His Word:\n\n   \"I the Lord have called them in righteousness, and will hold their\nhand, and will keep them.\"\n\nNow, when did Jesus say, \"Without Me ye can do nothing?\"\n\nIt was just before His death, that He told His disciples this truth.\nHe told them that He was like a vine, and they were like the branches,\nbut that just as branches cannot bear grapes if they are cut away from\nthe vine, so they could not bear fruit in their lives unless they were\njoined to Him.\n\nWhat a wonderful thing! Can a boy and girl be joined to Christ, the\nKing of kings and Lord of lords?\n\nYes, if they open their hearts' door to Him, He has promised to come in\nand abide with them, and then He will help them to bear fruit.\n\nDo you want to bring forth fruit in your life to-day?\n\nThen keep close to Jesus and ask Him to fill your heart with the\nsunshine of His presence. For:\n\n   \"Without Me ye can do nothing.\"\n\nDo you remember the story of the shepherd boy killing the giant?\n\nDavid might have had his sling and stones, but they would have been\nuseless unless he had had God with him when he went to meet him. He\ntold Saul that God had helped him to kill a lion and a bear, and that\nHe would deliver him out of the hand of the giant.\n\n   \"Without Me ye can do nothing.\"\n\nIt locks the door against all our own efforts and struggles. And the\nkey that unlocks it is:\n\n   \"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.\"\n\nA sailor lad gave his heart to Christ one Sunday evening after a\nmission service had been held. The minister talked to him afterwards,\nand found out that he had a very bad home in the East End of London,\nand was going home to spend the rest of his leave there.\n\n\"I don't know how I shall do it!\" the poor boy said. \"My mother drinks\nand is hardly ever sober; my father and brother hate religion of any\nsort, and have half killed a mission preacher when he was down our way.\nHow can I stand up against them?\"\n\n\"But,\" said the minister quickly, \"if the Almighty has you by the hand\nand goes home with you, won't you be stronger than they?\"\n\nThe boy smiled.\n\n\"Ay, sir, I'll be like David. I can tackle giants. I'm not afraid now.\"\n\nHe went home, and he was the means of bringing all his family into the\nKingdom of God. It was not he. It was God with him that did it.\n\nYou'll be afraid of nobody and of nothing if you have God holding you\nby the hand.\n\nBut remember!\n\n\"Without Me, ye can do nothing.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHAT V. \"In a Railway Station.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20146. WHAT GREAT EVENT IS THIS?]\n\n\n\n                       CHAT VI\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                     A Free Gift\n\n\n\n              \"The gift of God is\n               eternal life through\n               Jesus Christ our Lord.\"\n                     (Romans 6.23)\n\n\n\n                       CHAT VI\n\n                     A Free Gift\n\n   \"The gift of God is eternal life through\n    Jesus Christ our Lord.\"\n                          (Romans 6.23)\n\nDON'T you like getting presents? I do. Birthdays and Christmas are\nalways enjoyable times. We love receiving surprise presents. I remember\nvisiting a house in the country once, and a little boy and girl of\nthe house came into my room when my luggage was being unpacked, and\neyed everything being taken out of my bag and boxes with the greatest\ninterest. At last they could keep silent no longer.\n\n\"And what have you brought us?\" they asked.\n\nI was filled with confusion, for I had brought them nothing. I had not\nknown of their existence. Their expectations were disappointed.\n\nAnother little boy of my acquaintance came to lunch with me one day.\nHis mother was with him, and I think had talked to him beforehand about\nbeing on his best behaviour. I had got a toy for him to amuse himself\nwith, and he had a very good time after lunch playing with it.\n\nWhen he was going away, I told him he could take it with him. \"I'll\nmake you a present of it,\" I said.\n\nTo my surprise, he put his hands behind his back, and said, \"Oh, no,\nthank you.\"\n\n\"Don't you want it?\" I asked.\n\nHe shook his head, though he eyed it lovingly.\n\n\"I assure you, your mother will like you to have it,\" I said.\n\nBut nothing would induce him to take it, and he went away without it.\n\nI fancy he was trying to be extra good. He thought it was not good\nmanners to take a present away.\n\n\"What a silly boy!\" you say.\n\nBut we often act like that with God. And it is such a pity, for we lose\nso much by not stretching out our hands to take what He offers us.\n\nWe may have a present offered us, but if we won't put out our hands to\ntake it, what is the good of it to us? And how ungrateful to the kind\ngiver!\n\nSometimes people get unsuitable presents. I heard of a little girl who\nbought a tiny doll's tea-set, and gave it to her mother as a birthday\npresent.\n\nAnd a scholarly old bachelor uncle gave his little nephew on his\nseventh birthday a Latin book, \"Virgil's Aeneid.\"\n\nWe can fancy that neither of these presents was suitable!\n\nNow God knows exactly what we want, and He gives us everything suitable\nto our age and circumstances. But there is one gift that is wanted by\neverybody, big and small, rich and poor. Many of the gifts we get in\nthis world, wear out, and come to an end; this one cannot come to an\nend. And it is the gift that God likes to give us.\n\nSome presents cost a lot of money. This one cost Somebody His life to\nget, and that makes it the most valuable gift in the whole world.\n\nIn the time of slavery, there was an old negro woman who had a son\nwhom she loved very dearly. She and he lived and worked on a sugar\nplantation in the West Indies, for they were both slaves. But at that\ntime some of the slave owners would allow their slaves to purchase\ntheir freedom, and though it cost them a great deal of money, some\nfreed themselves in this way. It was this old woman's one desire in\nlife to work overtime, save her money, and free her son from bondage.\n\nShe did not tell him what she was doing but she worked when he was\nasleep\u2014and never took any rest or holiday herself. The consequence was,\nshe ruined her health, and after many years of this dreadfully hard\nlaborious life, she broke down, and had to take to her bed. But by that\ntime she had earned the money to buy the freedom of her son. She called\nhim one night to her dying bed, and produced a canvas bag.\n\n\"Here,\" she said, \"is money to set you free, my son. You will never be\na slave any more. I have worked all my life to get it, and now I have\ngot the money, I die in peace.\"\n\nShe died in her son's arms\u2014and he felt that his freedom had cost his\nmother her life.\n\nNow the gift that God offers to us all cost the Lord Jesus Christ His\nlife, and it is only through Him\u2014or because of Him that we can get it.\n\nWhat is it?\n\n   \"The Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.\"\n\nIs not Eternal Life a tremendous gift to be offered to us? Yet we can\nall have it. Every one of us\u2014great and small\u2014rich and poor. And if we\nknow we have it, death will not make us afraid. Our souls cannot die.\nEternal life with our Saviour in Heaven. That Land of Happiness which\nis too glorious to be described. Who would not stretch out their hands\nfor such a gift?\n\nBut it needs empty hands to take it. We must let everything else go,\nand we must take the Lord Jesus Christ for our own Saviour. It is only\nfor His sake, and through Him, that God gives us this gift.\n\nTake it from Him now. Thank Him with all your hearts for giving it to\nyou, and serve Him and love Him for the rest of your lives. That is how\nyou can show your gratitude for such a gift as this.\n\nIt is the biggest gift you could have offered to you.\n\n[Illustration: SELLING SPARROWS. Luke 12.6, 7.]\n\nSuppose you had everything you want in this world, but no life in the\nnext?\n\nIf you were drowning, and were offered a pony, or a purse, or a house,\nor a bag of gold, would you be glad of such gifts? \"No,\" you would cry;\n\"it's my life I want. Save me.\"\n\nAnd all the gifts that this world can give will be useless when we come\nto die.\n\nGod's Great Gift of Eternal Life will be what we shall want then, and\nif we have refused to take it all our life from His hands, how do we\nknow that we shall receive it from Him then? God will not offer His\ngift for ever. It is insulting His love and goodness to refuse to take\nit, to despise it, to be indifferent to it now. Stretch out your hand,\nlay hold of Eternal Life! And you will thank God for ever and ever for\nHis wonderful Gift.\n\n\"The wages of sin is death, but the Free Gift of God is Eternal Life.\"\n\n\n\n                       CHAT VII\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                     To Be Ready\n\n\n\n              \"Be ye therefore ready\n               also, for the Son of\n               Man cometh at an hour\n               when ye think not.\"\n                     (Luke 12.40)\n\n\n\n                       CHAT VII\n\n                     To Be Ready\n\n   \"Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son\n    of Man cometh at an hour when ye think\n    not.\"\n                          (Luke 12.40)\n\nWHAT is it to be ready? To be prepared.\n\nWe don't like unpunctual people. Some children are always late for\nmeals and late for school. But we lose pleasure sometimes by being\nlate. By not being ready. Suppose a rich uncle comes to take you out\nfor the day. He is going to take you into the country by a certain\ntrain. You are not ready when he comes for you, you lose the train, and\nhe is so angry that he says he won't take you out at all. You lost your\ntreat by not being ready for it.\n\nBut \"ready\" does not only mean being in time. If a grown up girl was\ngoing to be presented at the King and Queen's Court, she might be at\nthe Palace in time, but if she were not suitably dressed, if she had\nnot troubled to put on a court dress, she would not be \"ready\" for the\npresentation.\n\nDo you remember a story in the Bible like this? There was a man who\nwent to a palace at the King's invitation and sat down to feast with\nhim in his common soiled working clothes. He had been offered a\nsuitable party suit of clothes before he went into the Palace, but he\nrefused them, and he was sent away from the banquet, and turned away in\ndisgrace.\n\nThere are lots of stories about people coming to grief by not being\nready, though they were warned beforehand.\n\nThe trouble is with most of us, that we put off getting ready till too\nlate. It is no good to wait to get ready till the time comes. If people\nmove from one house to another, they pack up and prepare for weeks\nbeforehand. If you are going a journey, you don't wait to pack your\nbox till the car is at the door. Now, our Lord warns us that one day\nHe is returning to this world. He will surely come; but He will come\nwhen people are not expecting Him. And then in a moment, every one in\nthe world will be separated from one another. Those that are ready will\nmeet Him and be happy with Him for ever; those that are not ready will\nbe sent away in disgrace and misery.\n\nDo you remember the story of the wise and foolish Virgins. Only those\nwho were ready went inside the bridegroom's house, the others were shut\noutside. When the flood came suddenly, only those who were ready went\ninto the Ark with Noah and were saved. When Sodom and Gomorrah were\ndestroyed, only those who were ready to leave it escaped with their\nlives. And our Lord tells us the story of some servants who were left\nin charge of their master's house whilst he was away. The master comes\nback suddenly, and finds some of his servants not ready to meet him.\nThey had been enjoying themselves and not taking care of his house.\nThey had nothing ready for their master's return.\n\nJesus reminds us that He has gone away for a time, but He is really and\ntruly coming back, and by the signs in the world, His Return is very\nnear. Are you ready to meet Him? If He came to-day, this evening just\nafter dark, would you be found ready?\n\nA soldier is shot if he is on sentry duty and found sleeping at his\npost. Are you awake? Are you serving your absent Master as you would do\nif He were close to you watching all that you do or say?\n\nPerhaps you have never tried to serve your absent master. Perhaps you\nsay: \"I don't think I am His servant at all.\"\n\nIt will be very sad and dreadful for you if the Lord comes back to this\nworld before you have begun to serve Him. You are indeed not ready for\nHis return. Won't you think about this very seriously, and determine to\nget \"ready\" as soon as you can? How can you do this?\n\nBy giving your heart to Jesus, by asking Him to forgive you all your\nsins, and make you His faithful and true little servant.\n\nI can promise you from His own Word that He will answer these two\nprayers.\n\nHe will forgive you your sins.\n\nHe will make you His young servant, and He will help you to serve Him\ntruly and faithfully every day till He comes.\n\nThen you will be \"ready\" to meet Him.\n\n\n\n                      CHAT VIII\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                     The Unknown\n                       Visitor\n\n\n\n              \"There standeth One\n               among you, Whom ye\n               know not.\"\n                     (John 1.26)\n\n\n\n                      CHAT VIII\n\n                The Unknown Visitor\n\n   \"There standeth One among you, Whom\n    ye know not.\"\n                          (John 1.26)\n\nSOME little time ago our popular Prince of Wales was at a Race Meeting\nin America, where he was almost mobbed by a rude and curious crowd.\nCameras surrounded him, and at last, out of patience with the mob, he\nmoved away, and after a time got amongst some grooms and jockeys lower\ndown the course, where he was not recognised, and where he enjoyed a\nquiet time. The men with whom he talked in such a friendly fashion had\nlittle idea that they were talking to the heir of the English Throne.\n\nHe stood amongst them and they knew him not.\n\nNow, in the world to-day, in many an English home, One much higher and\nmore wonderful than a British Prince \"stands amongst\" the boys and\ngirls in that home, and \"they know Him not.\"\n\nWho is He? Jesus Christ, the King of Glory.\n\nWhy does He stand there?\n\nWaiting to be known. Waiting to be loved. Waiting to be served. He\nknows them. He loves them. He has served them even to laying down His\nlife for them. All has been done that can be on His side to win their\nlove and allegiance. Nothing, so far, has been done on their side.\n\nHe stands amongst them, and they know Him not.\n\nNow, let us think how we get to know people.\n\nIt is not enough to know of their existence. We all know that we have a\nking, we hear about him, but we do not know him as our friend.\n\nCan we know anyone if we do not see them? I think so. A little girl's\nfather is in India, but her mother is always talking to her about him;\nshe reads bits of his letters to her, and tells her stories of what\nhe used to do and say when she was a tiny baby. By and by the father\nbegins to write to his little girl, and she writes to him. She tells\nhim all she does, and what she likes, and what she dislikes. He tells\nher what he is doing, and gives her advice when she wants it.\n\nAt last, after years of waiting, he comes home.\n\nSomebody asks the girl: \"Will you be shy of your father? Won't he be a\nstranger to you?\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" she says; \"he and I are great chums; we've always written to\neach other. I love his letters, and I love him.\"\n\nNow this is how we should feel about the Lord Jesus Christ. When He\ncomes back to this world, He should be no stranger to us. We have had\nHis letters. We can read all His beautiful words to us in the New\nTestament. We can do more than that little girl, we can talk to Him,\ninstead of writing. For He stands close to us always, and He hears our\nfaintest whisper.\n\nPeter the Great, who ruled over Russia, was very fond of disguising\nhimself and going amongst his peasants, and seeing their poverty,\nnoticing who was most worthy of relief. He always won their confidence,\nbut on one occasion a man who was out of work and wanting employment,\nwas very rude to him.\n\n\"Go away,\" he said. \"You are poor like ourselves, your clothes show\nthat; we don't want your pity or your comfort. We want money and\nnothing else. You're no good to us at all.\"\n\n[Illustration: WASHING FEET. John 13.3-5.]\n\nHe little knew who was standing amongst them, but later on he was told.\n\n\"Oh,\" he cried, \"had I only known, what a lot I could have asked for!\"\n\nWe can't admire a man like that, but our Lord stands amongst us to help\nthe needy, to strengthen the weak, to comfort the sorrowful.\n\n\"Oh,\" you say, \"I have all I want. I'm not very poor, and I'm not sad,\nand I'm having a pretty good time just now.\"\n\nThen you don't want to know your King?\n\nLet me tell you that when He comes back again to this world He will\neither be your Judge or your Friend and Saviour. Which would you like\nbest?\n\nIf you have refused to know Him down here, when He opens the gates of\nParadise, the Golden City, and you press forward with the others who\nare going in, He will look upon you sorrowfully, and will say:\n\n   \"I never knew you. Depart from Me.\"\n\nAnd you will be shut out.\n\nHow sad! Why not now come to Him and belong to Him? Remember, He bought\nyou with His precious blood. He knows it is difficult to be always\ngood. He has been a boy himself, and knows how boys get tempted. And\nHe stands close to you, ready to help you fight your battles over\nyour besetting sins, longing to fill your young hearts with joy and\nhappiness, wanting to show you that a life in His service is a hundred\ntimes happier than one lived in the service of the Devil, who wants to\ndestroy your soul.\n\nWill you lift up your hearts, and ask Him to show Himself to you?\n\nHere is another thought for you. You don't make friends of a stranger\nin a moment, but you can fall in love at sight, and then the more you\ntalk with a person, the oftener you see them, the better you know them.\n\nYou have heard of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have read about Him, but\nif you really want to know Him and take Him as your best Friend, you\nmust come to Him, pray to Him, and talk to Him often; you must read\nwhat He says in His Word, and you must try and carry out His wishes\nevery day of your life.\n\nAsk Him to make you know Him, love Him, and serve Him.\n\nYou cannot help loving Him when you remember that He has died for you,\nwhen you realise that He will never leave you nor fail you as long as\nyou need His help.\n\nDo not let it be said of you:\n\n\"There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not.\"\n\n\n\n                       CHAT IX\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n                         Our\n                     Inheritance\n\n\n\n              \"An inheritance incorruptible,\n               and undefiled, and that fadeth\n               not away, reserved in Heaven\n               for you.\"\n                           (1 Peter 1.4)\n\n\n\n                       CHAT IX\n\n                  Our Inheritance\n\n   \"An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,\n    and that fadeth not away, reserved in\n    Heaven for you.\"\n                          (1 Peter 1.4)\n\nWHAT is an heir? A man or boy who comes into possession of a big house,\nor money, or property when the owner of it dies. Have you ever read\na story called \"Little Lord Fauntleroy?\" It is about a little boy\nin America who came over to England and found out he was heir to an\nEarldom. His inheritance was a very big one.\n\nSometimes quite poor men suddenly come into an inheritance, for\nwhich they are utterly unfitted. I remember a story of a tramp doing\nthis. And when he was placed in the big house which was part of his\ninheritance, he was miserable.\n\nAt last he came to his lawyer and said: \"Look here, I'm an uneducated\nman, and I'm only happy amongst my own kind. The servants wait on me,\nbut they despise and laugh at me. I sit in a library full of books\u2014I\ncan't understand one of them, and I'm not a reader. There's a place\nthey call an observatory, where you're supposed to study the stars. I\ncan't use it, for I'm ignorant of it all. There's a music room, but\nwhat is the good of piano or organ to me, when I can't play a note.\nThere's a museum and a picture gallery. I don't care for either. I\nhaven't been educated enough to understand them. And the big people\nround who come to call on me, terrify me. We haven't a thought in\ncommon. You'll have to sell the house and property, and give me the\nmoney. I'll spend it in drink and food amongst my friends.\"\n\nPoor man! Don't you feel sorry for him? He wasn't able to enjoy what\nbelonged to him, for he had not been trained in the right way.\n\n[Illustration: CHAT VII. \"Think about this seriously.\"]\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pictures to Paint\u20147. WHAT NEW TESTAMENT SCENE IS THIS?]\n\n\n\nNow, boys and girls who love the Lord Jesus are all heirs to an\ninheritance. What does the Bible say?\n\nThat through Jesus, who died to get it for us, we have \"an inheritance\nincorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in\nHeaven for you.\"\n\nWe can't all look forward to coming into an inheritance on earth, but\nwe can look forward to one in Heaven. It is being reserved or kept for\nus there. Now, if we aren't prepared in this life for that inheritance,\nwe shall be like that poor tramp: we shall be very miserable when we\nget there. And that is just why God sent us into this world of trouble,\nand pain, and difficulty, to train us and teach us and prepare us for\nour inheritance.\n\nWhen the old Queen Victoria, one of the best queens that has ever ruled\nover the British Empire, was a little girl, she was trained in every\nway by her mother and governesses for her inheritance. And when she was\ntold that she might become the queen one day, she clasped her little\nhands and cried, \"I will be good! I will be good!\"\n\nAll Royal children are brought up much more strictly than you are, for\nthey must be educated and trained for their future inheritance. They\nlearn when quite small to please others before themselves, to put duty\nbefore pleasure, to get up early to do their lessons, to study the\nfeelings of others, to control their tempers, and only to associate\nwith companions chosen by their parents or teachers.\n\nAn heir to a glorious inheritance must be prepared for years for it.\nAnd God wants to prepare us for our glorious inheritance.\n\nIt is a most beautiful home in Heaven that will last for ever and ever.\n\nCan we be sure of having this?\n\nIf we have been to Jesus to have our sins washed away, if we have held\nout our hands for the pardon He purchased for us on Calvary and thanked\nHim for it, if we are trying to serve Him day by day, then we can be\nsure that the inheritance will be ours. But we must ask God to train\nus, and when disagreeable things happen, we must not lose our temper,\nfor they are sent to test our tempers, to make us control ourselves,\nand so to make us more fit for our inheritance by and by.\n\nBoys and girls are often sent away to school, but one day they will\nhave finished their education, and then they will come home to their\nfather's house, and be able to take part in all that is going on there.\n\nWe are at school here being educated. By and by our education will be\nfinished, and we shall be called home to our Father's House in Heaven,\nto take part in all that is going on there.\n\nWe have not worked for this inheritance. Like many earthly heirs, it\ncame to us through the death of Someone else. Who was this?\n\nThe Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who loved us and gave Himself for\nus, as we have already seen.\n\nIn the Acts of the Apostles, God sent St. Paul to the Gentiles \"to open\ntheir eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power\nof Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and\ninheritance among them which are sanctified by faith.\"\n\nYou very often go up steps to a hall door, don't you? There are four\nsteps leading up to the golden door of our inheritance.\n\n   1st. Our eyes must be opened to see we are sinners.\n\n   2nd. We must be willing to leave the darkness of sin and choose the\nlight of goodness.\n\n   3rd. We must be delivered out of the power of the Devil, and come to\nthe Lord Jesus.\n\n   4th. We must receive forgiveness of our sins.\n\nCan we do this ourselves? No, we can't take one of those steps in our\nown strength.\n\nGod will do it all if we ask Him.\n\nAnd then we shall be at the top of the steps waiting to be let through\nthat golden door into our glorious and beautiful inheritance.\n\n\n\n         The City Bright\n\n   THERE is a city bright;\n     Closed are its gates to sin;\n       Nought that defileth,\n       Nought that defileth\n     Can ever enter in.\n\n   Saviour, I come to Thee;\n     O Lamb of God, I pray,\n       Cleanse me and save me,\n       Cleanse me and save me,\n   Wash all my sins away.\n\n   Lord, make me, from this hour,\n     Thy loving child to be,\n       Kept by Thy power,\n       Kept by Thy power\n   From all that grieveth Thee,\u2014\n\n   Till in the snow-white dress\n     Of Thy redeemed I stand,\n       Faultless and stainless,\n       Faultless and stainless,\n   Safe in that happy land.\n\n\n\n               Stories Illustrating Chats\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n  CHAT I. A Lovely Old Garden\n\n  CHAT II. The Gardener and the Lady\n\n  CHAT II. What the Preacher Said\n\n  CHAT III. The Big Dog and the Boy\n\n  CHAT IV. Queen Victoria and the Cottager\n\n  CHAT IV. The Liverpool Man and His Rent\n\n  CHAT IV. The Young Woman and Her Mother\n\n  CHAT V. The Bully and the Little Boy\n\n  CHAT V. The Shepherd Boy and the Giant\n\n  CHAT V. Little David in the East of London\n\n  CHAT VI. The Children and their Visitor\n\n  CHAT VI. The Boy who Refused a Present\n\n  CHAT VI. A Mother who Got a Doll's Tea Set\n\n  CHAT VI. A Bachelor Uncle's Peculiar Present\n\n  CHAT VI. The Slave Mother and her Son\n\n  CHAT VII. The King and the Unwise Subject\n\n  CHAT VII. The Servants who Neglected their Duty\n\n  CHAT VIII. The Prince of Wales in America\n\n  CHAT VIII. The Little Girl, and her Father in India\n\n  CHAT VIII. Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia\n\n  CHAT IX. Little Lord Fauntleroy\n\n  CHAT IX. A Tramp who Got a Mansion\n\n  CHAT IX. Queen Victoria and the Crown\n\n\n\n               Key to Coloured Pictures\n\n        FROM ORIGINAL WASH DRAWINGS BY E. FREE.\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n   I. The Potter\u2014A Unique Eastern Wheel\n\n         \"Arise, and go down to the potter's house,\n      and there I will cause thee to hear My words.\n      Then I went down to the potter's house, and,\n      behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And\n      the vessel that he made of clay was marred in\n      the hand of the potter; so he made it again\n      another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to\n      make it.\"\n                                     (Jer. 18.2-4)\n\n  II. A Measure of Meal\u2014Woman working with meal\n\n         \"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven,\n      which a woman took, and hid in three measures\n      of meal, till the whole was leavened.\"\n                                     (Matt. 13.33)\n\n III. Selling Sparrows\u2014Evidently ready for offering\n      or cooking\n\n         \"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings,\n      and not one of them is forgotten before God?\n      But even the very hairs of your head are all\n      numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more\n      value than many sparrows.\"\n                                     (Luke 12.6, 7)\n\n  IV. Washing Feet\u2014Well-known Eastern Custom\n\n         \"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all\n      things into His hands, and that He was come\n      from God, and went to God; He riseth from\n      supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a\n      towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth\n      water into a bason, and began to wash the\n      disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the\n      towel wherewith He was girded.\"\n                                     (John 13.3-5)\n\n\n\n                Key to Pictures to Paint\n\n        ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY C. B. BIRCH, A.R.A.\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n   I. The Passover In Egypt\n\n         \"And they shall take of the blood, and strike\n      it on the two side posts and on the upper door\n      post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.\n      And the blood shall be to you for a token where\n      ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over\n      you, and the plague shall not be upon you to\n      destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.\"\n                                     (Exod. 12.7, 13)\n\n  II. The Firstborn Slain\n\n         \"And it came to pass, that at midnight the\n      Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,\n      from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his\n      throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was\n      in the dungeon: and all the firstborn of cattle.\n      And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all\n      his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there\n      was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a\n      house where there was not one dead.\"\n                                     (Exod. 12.29, 30).\n\n III. Isaac and Rebekah\n\n         \"And Isaac came from the way of the well\n      Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.\n      And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at\n      the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw,\n      and, behold, the camels were coming. And\n      Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw\n      Isaac, she lighted off the camel.\"\n                                     (Gen. 24.62-64)\n\n  IV. Young King Joash\n\n         \"Then they brought out the king's son, and\n      put upon him the crown, and gave him the\n      testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada\n      and his sons anointed him, and said, God save\n      the king.\"\n                                     (2 Chron. 23.11)\n\n   V. Peter at the Fire\n\n         \"But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by\n      the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and\n      said, This man was also with Him. And he\n      denied Him, saying, Woman, I know Him not.\"\n                                     (Luke 22.56, 57)\n\n  VI. The Rent Veil\n\n         \"And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave\n      up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was\n      rent in twain from the top to the bottom.\"\n                                     (Mark 15.37, 38).\n\n VII. Paul before Agrippa\n\n         \"Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou\n      persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul\n      said, I would to God, that not only thou, but\n      also all that hear me this day, were both almost,\n      and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.\"\n                                     (Acts 26.28, 29)\n\n                         \u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n   The Bible Pictures are from \"Bagster's Bible Stories.\" A new handy\npocket edition, containing nearly 50 Original Drawings by C. B. BIRCH,\nA.R.A. Very useful for children.\n\n\n\n                Key to Bible Quotations\n\n\n\"He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that\nday\" (2 Tim. 1.12).\n\n\"And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found\nnothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow\non thee henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away\"\n(Matt. 21.19).\n\n\"They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them\"\n(Matt. 25.3).\n\n\"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs,\nthey cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber\" (Isa. 56.10).\n\n\"These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest;\nto whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever\" (2 Peter 2.17).\n\n\"I love them that love Me\" (Prov. 8.17).\n\n\"And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know\" (John 14.4).\n\n\"I am the Door\" (John 10.9).\n\n\"Those that seek Me early shall find Me\" (Prov. 8.17).\n\n\"No man cometh unto the Father but by Me\" (John 14.6).\n\n\"My son, give Me thine heart, and let thine heart observe My ways\"\n(Prov. 23.26).\n\n\"I dwell in the high and holy place\" (Isa. 57.15).\n\n\"Lo, I am with you alway\" (Matt. 28.20).\n\n\"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness\" (Isa. 42.6).\n\n\"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me\" (Phil.\n4.13).\n\n\"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me,\nye that work iniquity\" (Matt. 7.23).\n\n\"John answered them, saying, I baptise with water: but there standeth\nOne among you, whom ye know not\" (John 1.26).\n\n\"To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from\nthe power of Satan unto God\" (Acts 26.18).\n\n\"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth\"\n(Rev. 21.27).","title":"Chats with children : $b or, Pearls for young people strung from the word of truth","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11876}