With the Children on Sunday Part 15

From what I have said I think you will all see how constantly we are dependent upon G.o.d for everything which we enjoy. If G.o.d were to withhold the rain or the suns.h.i.+ne, famine and want and death would soon follow. Yet in the most wonderful way G.o.d is constantly providing that with which we are daily to be fed and always to be clothed. G.o.d is not unmindful of us. He never forgets, but in His own good time and in His own most wondrous way He sends us the rain and every needed blessing.

G.o.d never forgets us, but I fear that we often forget Him and forget when we drink the refres.h.i.+ng gla.s.s of clear, cool water, that it is G.o.d who gave it to us. When you sit down at the table, do you remember that it is G.o.d who gives you the food, and do you thank Him for the food which He gives you, or do you, like the unmannerly boy who receives a gift and never thanks the donor, sit down and eat and go away without ever thanking G.o.d the Giver? When He watches over and keeps you during the night, do you forget to kneel down and thank Him in the morning?

When day after day He clothes you, do you thank him? When He feeds and clothes you, do you love and serve Him, or do you accept of these blessings and then run off and serve Satan, G.o.d's great enemy?

These are serious questions, and I trust you will think seriously of them, and daily, when you receive G.o.d's blessings, that you will turn to Him in grateful thanksgiving and faithful service.

QUESTIONS.--What would the entire earth become if there should be no rain? If all moisture were removed from the atmosphere, what would be the result? What is the average rainfall? What is the weight of rainfall in a single square mile? How many cars would it require to carry water for one square mile? How does G.o.d accomplish this? How is the water raised up from the sea and the rivers?

Can you explain it by the teakettle? Where does G.o.d store this vapor? How do the clouds carry the moisture to the places which need it? How does the moisture in the clouds fall? Does G.o.d do all things wisely and well? Is G.o.d ever unmindful of our needs? Do you ever forget to thank Him? Do you always remember to serve Him?

SNOW.

THE LESSONS WHICH IT TEACHES.

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: When G.o.d desired to set Job to thinking, among other questions He asked him: Canst thou enter into the treasures of the snow? (Job x.x.xviii: 22.) While coming to church to-day, when I saw you frolicking and glad in the midst of the snow, which was falling all about you, I wondered whether you had ever stopped to think much about the snow. So I thought to ask you the question which G.o.d asked of Job nearly thirty-five hundred years ago: "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?"

When you were all so glad on account of this first snowstorm of the winter, did you stop to think that the snow comes from G.o.d? Now like everything else which comes from G.o.d, the snow is wonderful. No philosopher has ever yet been able fully to explain how the snow is formed and to tell us all about it, and I do not suppose that all the mysteries concerning it will ever be fully and perfectly solved. It is wonderful, however, because it comes down so lightly and noiselessly. It drops upon the earth almost like feathers, covering the ground, hanging upon the limbs of the trees and shaping them into things of strange beauty, piling up on the post by the side of your gate, until perhaps it looks more like the white man from the flour mill than like that to which people tie horses. Yet it comes down so noiselessly that we scarcely notice it.

When the snow falls upon the ground a foot deep it is said to be equal in weight to one inch of rain. Now one foot of snow, on one square mile of street, would weigh, it is estimated, about sixty-four thousand tons.

If this snow, which covers only one square mile, were placed in wagons loaded with one ton each, and allowing sufficient s.p.a.ce for these teams to move one behind another, these wagons would make a string or procession reaching from Philadelphia to New York, and from New York up the Hudson River almost to the city of Albany. I am sure you will be astonished at this, but when you consider that some snowstorms cover thousands of square miles, and are sometimes more than one foot deep, you will see how increasingly wonderful it is that all this great weight falls so gently upon the earth as to produce no disturbance, no shock, and generally goes away as quietly and peaceably as it came.

Like everything else that G.o.d has made, the snow is very beautiful. Did you ever hear that poem which begins:

"Beautiful snow! beautiful snow!

Falling so lightly, Daily and nightly, Alike 'round the dwellings of the lofty and low; Horses are prancing, Cheerily dancing, Stirred with the spirit that comes from the snow."

We oftentimes think that G.o.d is seen in the fields and flowers in the spring and summer, but He is also seen in the beautiful snow of winter.

If you will let some of the snow fall upon the sleeve of your coat and then examine it carefully, you will be surprised at its beauty. It is beautiful when examined without a microscope, but much more beautiful and wonderful when examined with a microscope. Each flake is fas.h.i.+oned into stellar shape. It is formed and fas.h.i.+oned by the same hand which made the stars of the heavens and gave them their sparkle and beauty.

Each flake is a beautiful crystal. Each somewhat like the others, and yet no two exactly alike. There are hundreds of varieties, each beautiful and all glorious. These beautiful little snow stars are all formed with perfect geometrical accuracy. Some have three sides and angles, some six, others eight, and some have more. One resembles a sparkling cross, while others seem almost like the leaves of an open flower. Some are like single stars, others like double stars and cl.u.s.ters of stars; and although the ground in winter is covered with myriads of them, yet each one is formed with as much correctness and beauty as if G.o.d had made each one for special examination and as an exhibition of His infinite skill and divine perfection.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Snow-flakes Magnified.]

But like everything else that G.o.d has made, the snow is also useful. You may possibly have thought of it as affording excellent sport in sliding down hill, enabling you to enjoy a sleigh ride behind horses with jingling bells, affording opportunity for a snow-ball fight, or as furnis.h.i.+ng the material for making snow men or snow houses. In all these ways the snow is a source of delight and pleasure to boys and girls, but after all, the snow has a special mission in the world during the severe cold of the winter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Winter Sleigh Ride.]

The severity of the cold is often greatly modified by the presence of snow. The snow forms a warm mantle to protect the gra.s.s and grain fields. It wraps its soft warm covering around the plants, and thus protects them from the frost. Many animals also take shelter in the banks of snow, and are thus kept from being frozen to death. The snow of winter is as important in securing our food and blessing as the rain of the summer. As intense heat and the absence of rain produce the great deserts of the earth, so intense cold and the absence of snow would produce barren tracts upon the earth.

Now, what are the lessons we may learn from what I have said? I think the first lesson that we may learn is that G.o.d does everything perfectly. G.o.d is not in a hurry, as boys and girls often are when they do not take time to learn their lessons thoroughly or to do their work carefully. Perfection is one of G.o.d's attributes. We are impatient and imperfect. But G.o.d wants us to be perfect. We should constantly strive after perfection. We are to seek after perfection here upon earth, and although we cannot hope to attain it fully in this world, yet we shall attain unto it in the world of blessedness beyond. Remember that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

I think the second lesson that we may learn from what I have said, is that G.o.d does everything with some good purpose in view. G.o.d not only has a purpose in all that He does, but He has a purpose for good. Some boys and girls do things with a bad purpose. Now, G.o.d does not do anything with a bad purpose, and He would not have us do anything with a bad purpose. He has given us life and being upon the earth in order that we may accomplish something grand and good. What is the purpose of your life? What have you resolved to make the object which you shall seek to attain in this life? Have some n.o.ble purpose, some high aim in life.

Whatever it shall be, let it always have in view the blessing and good of others and the glory of G.o.d.

The last lesson from this study of the snow is that G.o.d has made it a symbol of purity. G.o.d is pure, and He wants us to be pure. Do you put tobacco in your mouth? Then your mouth is not pure. Do you use bad words? If so, your mouth is not pure. Do you use your eyes to read worthless story papers and books, or to look at evil pictures? Then your eyes and thoughts are not pure. Do you permit your ears to listen to improper talk? Then your ears and mind are not pure. Do you harbor bad thoughts in your heart? Then your heart is not pure. Do you defile your body by improper eating and drinking? If you do, then your body is not pure. If you and I desire to be pure, we must go to G.o.d and earnestly ask Him as David did when he cried unto G.o.d and said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."

Now let us sing this beautiful hymn:

"Wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow."

QUESTIONS.--About what did G.o.d ask Job, to set him thinking? Where does the snow come from? Does anyone know fully how the snow is formed? Is the snow as wonderful as it is beautiful? What do the flakes look like? Are they all formed alike? Are any two exactly alike? How is the snow useful in winter? Is snow as important in the winter as rain in the summer? Is G.o.d ever in a hurry? Are you always patient? What is worth doing well? Does G.o.d always have a purpose in whatever He does? Does G.o.d expect us to have a n.o.ble purpose? Of what is snow the symbol? Does G.o.d expect us all to be pure?

PLASTIC FACE.

CHARACTER IN THE COUNTENANCE.

SUGGESTION:--The object used is a small plastic face such as are often sold in toy stores, and even on the streets in large cities. The head of a rubber doll would also answer the purpose.

A couple of pictures of faces placed in bottles would ill.u.s.trate the fact that as the faces are seen through the bottles, so our thoughts are not wholly hidden but s.h.i.+ne through our faces.

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: Here is a soft plastic face; by squeezing it on the side I can make the face very long, and it looks very sober. If I place the face between my thumb and fingers and press upon the chin and forehead it makes the face short, and makes it have a very pleasant appearance. I can make it look as though it were laughing, or make it seem to be angry and cross.

Just so is it with our faces. When we feel pleasant our faces are short and drawn up; when we feel sober, or cross, or angry, they are lengthened and the character of the expression is entirely changed. You would scarcely know the face were you to see it radiant with smiles and pleasantness, and afterwards see the same face when the person is cross or angered. When you look at a person you can tell whether they are in good humor, or whether they are displeased or angry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Frowns and Smiles.]

Do you know, boys and girls, that our character and our disposition are seen in our faces? It is impossible for us to conceal our real selves, even though we might try. I will tell you how it is. If I were again and again to press this face only in this way, so as to make it look very long, after a time it would retain this expression. If I were to press it in this other way, so as to make it very short and give it a very pleasant expression, and were to hold it in that position for a very long time, it would a.s.sume that expression, and retain it constantly. It is just so with our faces. When a boy is angered again and again the deep lines of his face become more and more permanent, until after a time he comes to have a face which expresses anger. If a boy is kind and good and generous, these feelings express themselves in his face, and if repeated over and over again, day after day and year after year, it becomes a permanent expression upon his face and the boy is known by all who meet him as a good-natured, pleasant and agreeable boy.

I suppose that most all the boys and girls here can tell a minister when they meet him on the street. And when you grow older I think you will not only be able to tell that it is a minister, but you may be able to tell, possibly to what denomination the man belongs--whether he is a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or an Episcopalian or a Lutheran, or to what denomination he belongs. This cannot always be told, but in many instances this can be judged quite accurately. The study of the Bible and the contemplation of holy and good things inscribe themselves indelibly upon the face of those who give them thought and attention.

Beneath a good and generous face you will find a good and generous heart. Beneath a bad face you will find a bad heart. If we are Christians we shall become more and more like Christ. We shall grow up into His likeness, and into His image, and into His stature. We are told that not only will we become more and more like Him, but that at last, in the great Resurrection, we shall behold Him as He is, and we shall be like Him.

If I were to take some pictures and place them in a bottle they would s.h.i.+ne out through the gla.s.s, and you could see them. So with the thoughts that are in your heart; they s.h.i.+ne out through your face and give expressions to it. Even when the body is suffering pain the heart may be at rest. David, the Psalmist, said that G.o.d was "the health of his countenance." Even though his body was suffering pain his face might be pleasant, because G.o.d was with him, making him happy in his heart.

There is an old adage that says, "handsome is, that handsome does."

There are some young persons who may have a pretty face, and yet who may not be righteous and holy in their hearts; but as they grow older their character will s.h.i.+ne out more and more, until at last their face shall be entirely changed, and all that is bad in their hearts will appear in their faces. If you want a good face you must have a good heart. Take Jesus into your heart, follow His teachings and imitate His example, and from year to year you will grow more and more like Him. Here is a very appropriate and beautiful poem, which was written by Miss Alice Carey.

TAKE CARE.

"Little children, you must seek Rather to be good than wise, For the thoughts you do not speak s.h.i.+ne out in your cheeks and eyes.

"If you think that you can be Cross or cruel, and look fair, Let me tell you how to see You are quite mistaken there.

"Go and stand before the gla.s.s, And some ugly thought contrive, And my word will come to pa.s.s Just as sure as you're alive!

"What you have and what you lack, All the same as what you wear, You will see reflected back; So, my little folks, take care!

"And not only in the gla.s.s Will your secrets come to view; All beholders, as they pa.s.s, Will perceive and know them, too.

"Out of sight, my boys and girls, Every root of beauty starts; So think less about your curls, More about your minds and hearts.

"Cherish what is good, and drive Evil thoughts and feelings far; For, as sure as you're alive, You will show for what you are."