Photograph of Woolston standing next to a seated lion
Atlas, the Big Lion—A Docile, Friendly Beast Performing forthe Children
When the man walked fast, the lion walked fast; when the man stopped, the lion stopped also. The big idea in the lion's head was to follow him all day until dark, and then in the dark spring upon him. This was the way the man outwitted the lion. When he came to a high cliff below which there was a deep hollow in the rock, he climbed down into this cleft where the lion could not see him. Here he fixed a stick on the rocks and put on it his hat and coat so as to make them look like a man, and then hid under the rock to watch results. Soon the lion came creeping slyly along, and seeing the coat and hat he made a sudden spring at them, and falling down on the rocks below, was killed. But you see I was safe in the cage with Atlas, because they took good care of him and he wasnot hungry.
I concluded by telling the little folks about the story of Daniel who was cast into a den of lions, which is the most remarkable lion story in the world, for in those days they kept the lions in a state of hunger so that they might destroy their victims with haste. Daniel was saved from the hungry beasts because God sent his angel, and they could not open their mouths and had no desire for food. Our God is able to deliver his children.
THE BABY LION
One morning when I went to see my friend Atlas in the winter quarters the friendly keeper said to me, "Doctor, look into the lions' cage, in yonder corner." When I did so, what do you think, children, I saw there? Lying close to its big mother lion I saw a little baby lion fast asleep. The big mother seemed very proud ofit, for she looked at me with her big eyes and seemed to say, "This is the most wonderful baby of the lion kingdom." And when the little baby opened his eyes I thought so too. After a few days the little fellow would play on the floor with me. He looked just like a big cat, and often when he went after the ball I sent rolling over the floor, he seemed to be a big cat and had the cat's way when he played.
I took him to my church one day. The first lion who ever went to Sunday school—and as it was an anniversary day with the school I gave an object-talk with the little fellow in my arms. I told the children that this lion, so docile and harmless, had a wild nature, and in a short time when that nature was fully developed it would not be safe for the boys and girls to come near him. The little paw which I held in my hands would soon be so strong and wild that it could bring down in death the strongest man alive. I then permitted a few little girls to come to the platform and hold the little fellow for a few moments, which they did with great glee and will tell their children's children of the day when they held a real living baby lion in their arms. I then told them that we all like lions have an evil nature. While we are young we are like this little lion, gentle and mild, but later on when our wild nature develops we do very wicked things and become sinners. The little lion must always be a lion, there is no power on earth that can change its nature. But although we have an evil nature, Jesus has come to take away the evil within us and make us his gentle, obedient, and loving children. I then told the children how much the mother lion loved her little baby. Mother love is so strong that she is
Photograph of Woolston holding a baby lion in front of a crowd of people
A Baby Lion, Six Weeks Old, Receiving the Name of the Youngest Baby in the Audience
most dangerous when she has little cubs of her own; she so greatly fears the stranger will do them harm.
Then I told a baby lion story. A circus was in progress at Woodbury, N.J., one afternoon in May, 1919, when the keeper of a lioness named Lucy and her two cubs entered her cage. He succeeded without difficulty in driving the mother lion into a compartment at the other end of the cage, thus separating her from her cubs. All would doubtless have gone well had he not stopped to fondle the cubs. This aroused the wild anger of the mother, and she sprang with all her might against the separating door, burst it open, and seized the keeper by the neck and killed him instantly. She was transferred into a mad lion when she thought her cubs were in danger. This story shows us how much the mother lion loves her little ones.
About this time the baby lion grew restless and wanted to go home, so when we had named the little cub Norman after the youngest child present that afternoon, we took him back to his mother.
THE BABY LEOPARD LESSON
From the wild animal market one day I borrowed a little baby leopard. He was timid as a baby rabbit. He trembled with fear all the time I held him in my arms. The little folks did not seem to be afraid of him, because he looked just like a big cat, and indeed he was the cat's wild brother. As I held him in my arms I recited Jeremiah 13:23: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." The great lesson this passageof Scripture draws forth from the leopard is that none of us by our own effort can change our hearts and make them over into good hearts. Jesus must do this. The leopard can never change his spots nor can we alone ever change our hearts.
THE LITTLE BEAR STORY
One day when I was thinking out a talk which I was to give to 1,000 children in my Happy Hour Service for them, I learned that a rich man in my city had purchased a little bear for his children to play with. I said to myself here is a new and different object-lesson. At once I called on the owner, and he very gladly sent me the little fellow and his keeper with him. He was a restless little bear and wanted to play all the time. When I took him into the meeting I had placed on the table by his side a tub of water, for it was Teddy's delight to get into the water and set up a great splash, which hugely amused the children. The bear is the clown of the animal kingdom. He is not an imitator like the monkey, but thinks out his own stunts. He has more intelligence by far than the monkey and is more human in his head. They are often quite droll in their fun, they play leap frog, have wrestling-matches, and play bo-peep. This is the reason why they are called the "Clowns of the Animal Kingdom."
This little bear, I said to the children, teaches us how foolish it is to be self-willed and stubborn. He must have his own way. You can punish him with a whip and hit him so hard he cannot for a few minutes stand upon his feet, yet when he does get his strength back
Photograph of Woolston holding a baby leopard
A Baby Leopard, Seven Months Old, Used to Illustrate the ScriptureReference to the Leopard's Spots
he will stand up and do the same thing over again. When wounded by the hunter with a deadly shot he seems to be stronger in resisting power than ever. He cannot be taught to give up himself. That is the reason we say "as stubborn as a bear." Sometimes boys and girls have the will of a bear. Be stronger than a bear by giving up when you are in the wrong. So you all see now that ponderous unusual objects can be used for teaching great religious lessons. This is a good chapter to read to the little folks.
52
OBJECTS: Five Prepared Bottles
In the beginning God made a beautiful garden and dropped it into the Pacific Sea. There it rested in sweet repose like a lily fair upon the bosom of the deep. It was a Garden of Love as peaceful and calm as a star. Its name was Tahiti, but as the years passed by the worst features of European civilization were flung into it, and like Eden of old the serpent came also and destroyed its primeval glory, and its royal beauty soon faded away forever.
Among the destroying influences introduced was a bottle of mosquitoes which a sailor out of sheer spite and hateful fun took to the island, and soon the land was overrun with these disturbing little pests which, added to other black things of civilization, soon robbed these islands of their virgin excellence.
The world today is full of its black bottles loaded with destructive contents. Let us consider some of them.
Secure three dark glass bottles; paint them black if necessary; load and label them as herewith described.
Bottle No. 1.Label this bottle "Liquor." Fill it with strong tea, which resembles liquor in color. Pour out a little in a glass, and tell the story of the wreck and ruin this bottle has caused on God's island called the "World."
This bottle came to us in earth's earliest ages. No one
Photograph of Woolston standing next to a bear cub on a chair
The Bear Is Called the Clown of the Animal Kingdom. This BabyBear, Visiting a Children's Meeting in Doctor Woolston's Church,Was Used to Illustrate the Sin of Stubbornness
has ever discovered the date of its first appearance. Back before the Flood and in the days of Noah we read that wine was wrecking things. First came the deluge of wine, then the deluge from the great deep. It was a world-wrecker then, and is in the same business today, and will continue on in its black business unless the hand of God and the arm of the law shall shatter it and grind it to powder.
Prohibition has chained the monster of this black bottle, but not slain it. It still lives and is seeking to break its chains of bondage and start on its rampage again. There is a popular cry among men now which demands we shall let the monster loose again. They say, "Give us light wines and beer." This is a noise from hell. Light wines and beer would be leaks in the dam that now holds back this flood of death. Open the leaks, and that will finally wash away the dam, and let the river of death loose upon the people again. Place the cork in the bottle and call the cork the Eighteenth Amendment. It shall never come out. The monster of rum must never come back.
Bottle No. 2.Label this bottle "Ignorance."
Pour out from this bottle into a glass a liquid that has been made black by a few drops of ink, and this you call the "Darkness of Ignorance," the bottled "night of the Dark Ages." It is as black as Egyptian darkness.
Centuries ago where the City of London now stands, a tribe of benighted people lived. When they wished to start on a pilgrimage of murder and plunder, and did not know which way to go to find the greatest spoil, they placed a little maiden in a large basket, and pierced it through with a sword slaying the little one, and theywatched to see through which side of the basket the blood would flow first. This, they declared, indicated the direction in which they were to go on their murderous pilgrimage. They had all been drinking from the black bottle of ignorance. Yes, you say, that might all be true of heathen tribes. But it would be well to remember also that the black bottle of ignorance is found with the wiser people of this day also.
The placing of the horseshoe over the door, the fear of the black cat which crosses our path at night, the dread of the number 13 and the day Friday, are all drops from the bottle of ignorance; and so it appears that civilized people are often influenced by these things. Our colonial fathers when they spilt salt at the table, threw a pinch of it over the left shoulder to keep the witches away; so it seems that often this black bottle of ignorance finds a place on our table of daily bread. Let us seek knowledge and light always. Learn something every day, and keep far away from this bottle of dark ignorance. Remember the mountaintop window of light is to know God aright, and to love him and keep his commandments. If this we do, the cup of life will be so full that ignorance will find no place to dwell in it. The liquid night cannot reign where we all love Jesus and walk in his light.
The third bottle is labeled "War." Load this bottle with a red liquid which can be produced by red ink or from regular dye-stuff. This liquid represents the blood that war has shed. As you pour this out into the glass say, Modern war is murder made lawful by the nations, but it is unlawful by the laws of God. War is sin, it is an enemy to Jesus. He came to give peace onearth and good-will among men. That was his way among men. "Put up thy sword" is one of the commandments of the New Testament. It is the word of the Prince of Peace. All the world questions should be settled by arbitration. "Come let us reason together" is God's good way to settle questions with the sinner or the nations. The spirit of this bad black bottle has slain its countless trillions, and if all the human skulls through which war bullets have crashed could be assembled in one great Potter's Field they would cover an acre of Towers of Babel. If all of the bones of the slain by war could by some magic magnet be thrown together they would well nigh cover the civilized acres of the world.
Put the stopper into this bottle and say, Paralyzed be the hand that ever draws out the stopper of the bloody bottle of war.
Bottle No. 3.Labeled "Gold." Fill this bottle with a yellow liquid which resembles the gold color. Pour out into a glass and remark: The love of this yellow stuff is a universal destroyer. The worship of this demon will cause a man and woman to do all manner of evil. They will lie, steal, deceive, and sell their souls for it. They will offer up the sacrifice of their own lives to possess it. They will sell out both worlds just to toy with it for a few days. Gold is evil only when we worship it, that is, think more of it than we do of God. This is forbidden by the First Commandment. The Israelites did this when in the wilderness they erected the golden calf and worshiped it. When we use it aright it is not a black bottle, but a bottle with glad yellow sunshine. We then call its contentscharity (love). Paul said charity is even greater than faith and hope. This bottle is not yellow with the sunshine of love, but of sin, so I will put the cork into this bottle and put it out of sight. May I put it out of my mind as I have put it out of sight. But here are two other bottles from which I may and will drink most freely and live ever more.
Secure two plain glass bottles. Label the first one "WATER," and the second, "MILK." Lifting up the bottle marked "Water," explain that it stands for the Water of Life. Lifting up the bottle marked "Milk," explain that it will stand for the pure "Word of God." Holding up the first bottle, pour a little of the contents into a new clean glass and say: This crystal water stands for the Water of Life or God's Salvation. Jesus once offered it to the woman of Samaria, and she drank of it and was saved; she told all her town people of this water, and hundreds drank from the same bottle to the salvation of their souls. Lift high the glass and say: This living Water is free to all; come, and drink, and live. Remember, O ye people, that just looking at it with admiring eyes will not save you. Drink of it, partake of it—this alone will give you salvation. A thirsty man does not have his thirst quenched by admiring the gushing fountain, he must drink to lose his thirst.
My next and last bottle is labeled "Milk." This stands for the Word of God, "the pure milk of God's word."
This Bible milk adds daily strength to the soul which will live on it. It is heaven's prepared food. The Bible by its promises of help gives us a "tall" lift when we are weak and worn down.
When the ten virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom, the five wise virgins not only took their lamps with them, but also other vessels filled with reserve oil to be used in replenishing their lamps when the oil had burned away. The extra bottle was their life preserver, for when the midnight cry was heard, from this bottle they refilled their lamps, and went in to the wedding with the Bridegroom. In our journey home to God we must take this bottle of heavenly "milk," God's word with us. Take aMilk Verseevery day—that is, inwardly digest a promise of God daily. This will give you strength now and victory in the hour of death.
53
OBJECTS: A Tree Trimmed with Gifts for the Heathen
A Christmas-tree in August! This thought sounds like a misfit among ideas. A Christmas-tree with its atmosphere of frost, snow, and December dropped down in the summer garden of August seems to be like a rose-bush with its roots planted in the air. But the Christmas-tree that I am thinking about is never a misfit in any month or in any place. Any time is the right time for this good tree. Let me now tell you about the Christmas-tree in August.
It is a foreign-mission tree. In order to send our Christmas gifts to foreign-mission stations so they will be received in time for Christmas, they must be sent months ahead of that date, and therefore often they are collected in August. This will give you ample time to send the gifts to any port in the world. August is the best time to gather the children together also. They are free from school duties, and the weather is quite suitable for open-air services.
Select if possible some open space or a lawn on which there is standing a small tree by itself, This tree should not be over five or six feet high. Drop on its branches a few bunches of cotton to give a snow-and-winter effect.
When the people have assembled around this tree, and after a brief prayer has been offered, state that this will be a missionary service, and that the Scripture lessonwill be the closing verses of the last chapter of Matthew containing the Commission. This tree we will call our August Christmas-tree, for we will now trim it with our Christmas gifts for the children of the foreign lands.
Some time previous to this date you have asked all the people to bring their Christmas gifts for foreign ports to this meeting, and to wrap them up in white packages securely tied with strong cord. Now ask a few selected children to tie a Christmas card on every package. These cards can be secured at any of the wholesale shops where pictorial post-cards can be obtained. You then with the aid of the older boys and girls trim the tree with these white gifts.
This Christmas-tree under the hot rays of an August sun is not unlike the real Christmastime tree that many of the little folks in some of the far-away lands will in reality have. For in some of these lands flowers and hot sun rays are with them at Christmastime.
This tree bowed down with white gifts will resemble a January tree after a heavy snow-storm. It is a joy tree, for it will send joy to many people.
You conclude the service by reading the Bible Christmas story and telling the children our gifts will remind the heathen that peace and good-will is for them also as the angels said, "to all men." Then offer a concluding prayer that our gifts may all be safely transported across the seas and that the presents may make our little brothers and sisters very happy. Now ask the children to help you untrim the tree, and as they take the presents down ask them to load them on one or more small sleds as if sending them far away. Select a number of the very small children to take hold of the ropesof the sleds and to be prepared to march when the order is given. Place on the children at the ropes the names of the countries to which these gifts are going, and let them draw the sleds over the lawn while the other children cheer them as they go on their journey.
At last let the children and the sleds disappear behind a cluster of trees at the far end of the lawn where a committee of adults awaits them to receive the gifts and attend to the final shipment to the missionary boards of the Church. When the children come back with the empty sleds announce that just before they go home they can play a "bit." Some days before this event roll up into balls some cotton until they look like snowballs. Let the children gather around the Christmas-tree and play snowball games. Try this little game: Hang up upon the tree a common basket with a handle on it. Give each child a certain number of balls, ask them to stand ten feet away from the basket, and in turn see how many of the little folks can cast into the basket all their balls. Each child continues to cast in the balls until he misses, and then the next one will take his turn. All of the little folks who put all their balls in the basket should be given a small prize which may consist of a few nuts, some fruit, or small candies.
Here is another snowball game: Secure a small hoop and ask some large boy to hold it up as high as possible. Then select five girls and five boys each holding five balls apiece. Ask them to stand six feet away from the hoop and to cast as many balls through the hoop as possible. Each child continues to cast the balls until he misses one, then he is out, and the next child tries out his skill. The object of the game is to see which sidewill cast through the hoop the larger number of balls. The side which does this is the winning side. These games and others like them which may occur to the mind of the committee of arrangements will give the little folks a merry time. Tell the children that this Christmas-tree in August is the king of trees because it is a giving tree; it is therefore blessed by Jesus because he has said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
54
OBJECTS: A Box in Which the Letters Can Be Deposited
This book has been telling you what to say to children. The Junior Post-office will enable the children to say words to you.
This is the Junior Post-office idea. Have a letterbox placed on the outside of your study door. Have posted up over this box the words "For Junior Mail Only."
Ask the children to write to you and drop their mail in this box, and you will receive it promptly and will gladly answer every letter.
When you receive the letters and answer them, announce from the pulpit that you have letters for the following juniors, and then read out the names and say the letters will be found on the pulpit table and can be secured after the service. Sometimes it will have a larger effect if you send the answer through the regular mail to their homes. Children like to receive letters in the regular way; they regard such letters as highly important.
Announce at your Junior Service that you would be glad if they would write to you about the story or lesson of the evening. Let them tell the story you told in their own words, and you will be richly rewarded with a stock of information which they will thus give to you as to how children listen and oftentimes fail to get your pointand don't understand the meaning of the words you use. You will often be surprised to note how well they do hear and how much you have put into their heads and hearts. You will notice the words they use, and how they construct their sentences. You will also get a hint as to the action of their little minds when they are thinking.
All of these things are of the utmost value to the worker with children who has his heart in his task. Sometimes ask them a question and ask for a written answer through the Junior Post-office. For instance, ask them if some good friend should give them a thousand dollars, what would they do with it. You will be amused with the answers you will receive. When this was tried once with a bright group of juniors in a city church, one of the answers was, "I would put it in the bank and save it "; another answer was, "I would buy books of travel," etc. The best answer the pastor said was this one, "I would give it to my parents." Each of these letters was answered personally and good counsel given to the letter writer. At the next meeting all these letters were read out to the children, and they took a vote as to the best answer. Sometimes the letters which come through the Junior Post-office will be little complaints. One wants to know why it is that he is never put on any committee, especially the committee for the annual excursion. Another wants to know why she is never asked to sing a solo at the meeting. Another calls the pastor's attention to a modest and backward boy who is a good reciter, but will never push himself forward. Another little girl inquires if her little brother at home who is too young to come to the meeting,might be made a member of the meeting and get all cards, papers, and other things that are given away.
These questions the children ask are big questions to them. They should be answered with dispatch and dignity. They are windows through which you can look into child life and "see things." Sometimes the letters will tell you of their little sorrows and troubles which to them are as real as your own. Your answer may give them a lift which they will remember all their lives. Often they will write to you about the Bible and its wonderful stories, and in their own language they will discuss these events. Children all believe the Bible unless some older head has been tampering with them. Sometimes this fact will come out in their letters. Your answer can easily set the matter right for all time. They believe in you, and what you say is the "big law" in the case, and that settles it. They will often tell you the story of their little lives which seems to be long and important to them, and by your answer you can tell them of their big friend Jesus, and how he leads all the way to the end.
At times they will want to know what they must do to be a Christian. The answer to this letter should always contain an invitation for them to come and see you personally and talk it over with you. You must, however, fix the time, or many of them will not act quickly. This is the best method to use in bringing children to Jesus. If in the open you ask them, "All of you who want to be saved and live a Christian life, come forward to the platform," after the first two or three respond they will often come forward with a rush. Of course, they do not want to be lost, but many of them have no real thoughtof what that act means, and so before their names are taken for church-membership they should each be dealt with personally. Just putting the name on a card declaring they desire to be a Christian is entirely insufficient and should never be regarded as final. Each one should be dealt with personally and alone.
After Decision Day or revival season their names should be secured and written to, and an announcement should be made that there are letters in the Junior Post-office for them, which should contain a request for a personal interview with them, at which time you can make plain the way of life. This Junior Post-office method will be a new way of approach to their inner life and will enable you, as their pastor, to give counsel that will linger with them for all time. They will also find that you are their good friend and belong to the company of juniors as well as the congregation of elders.
This, of course, will take the pastor's time. Well, so let it be; it is time well spent. And what if the work is hard at times? It is first-place work and pays the most in the work of the kingdom.
Jesus said to Peter, "Feed my lambs," before he said, "Feed my sheep." He put first things first. Go thou and do likewise.
55
OBJECT: A Plain Black Bag
When I was a boy in my early teens I had a Sunday-school teacher who was surely fifty years ahead of her times.
She knew nothing of a teacher-training course or child psychology. She never talked in public on the Art of Teaching a Sunday School Class. She knew but very little of those well-chosen words which the public speaker commands. She knew nothing of the science of public instruction. But she didknow boysand was a master of the self-learned art of interesting and instructing a class of early teen-age boys.
We boys noticed that often she would bring with her a black bag and would say to us, "Now boys, give me your attention, and after the lesson I will show you something I have brought with me to the class, and which I have in my little black bag."
This little idea showed her mastery over boys. She aroused their curiosity, and as curiosity is the mother of attention we all listened like regular fellows to what she had to say, and also kept a longing eye on the bag. We were all set to see what strange things she would draw from it when the lesson was over. She was a great teacher and always gave us boys a story form lesson, and it sank in to stay, and often memory brings back the truth she gave us and also the contents of theblack bag. We can yet see pouring out of it wonderful truth as from a horn of plenty.
Sometimes it would be some little trinket which had a bit of history connected with it that brought our heads together and opened our eyes in wonder as we looked and listened. The first object I remember she produced from the bag was a little idol from China. She had a sister there who had sent it to her. We had never seen an idol before, and as we passed it around the class for close inspection and listened to her tale of how the heathen worshiped it, it seemed to our boyish minds as fascinating as a fairy tale, and just as wonderful. Sometimes it would be a little flower for each of us that was produced from the black bag. She lived in those days when many of the city homes had a front-yard garden. She had such a garden, and when any of us were ill she brought us a cluster of beautiful flowers. Sometimes the black bag yielded a big apple apiece, and we boys never tasted such apples before, and devoured them as only an always hungry boy can do when he is at his best.
We were always at our best when the black bag produced. Generally the lesson from the black bag had nothing to do with the regular Bible lesson, but was a supplementary lesson. Oftentimes there was no lesson to the object at all, but just a little gift which took its place with the reward cards of that day.
One Saturday morning I met my teacher going to the market. She always stopped me when we met and had a few words with me, and often down in her basket she found a stick of candy among the contents which she always gave me, and which I always received with thanks. Her thoughts were with her boys so constantlythat she always had a bit of candy among things in her basket, thinking that perhaps she might meet some of her boys playing in the street as she passed by.
This particular morning she said: "Clarence, tomorrow I will have something new and wonderful in the black bag; tell all the boys to be sure to be present." Then she gave me a stick of candy which had a magic effect on my heels, for they seemed to have wings, as I spent the entire afternoon running around to the homes of the scholars and giving them the great news about the "Black Bag."
Next day we were all in our places and ready for the lesson and also anxiously waiting for the opening of the black bag. When it was opened she gave us a small bag of chestnuts and a picture-card. I have never forgotten the black bag, as you see I am recalling now its history in detail half a century after it opened to us its first simple lesson.
That dear teacher long ago put on her white garments and went to heaven. Her boys, six in number, never forgot their teacher and the black bag. I recall now that two of those boys became ministers of the gospel. Two of them went into the practise of law. One went West, and the other passed on. I am all that is left of the old class. The other boys are with her in heaven, and I often think that perhaps they talk over yet the story of the black bag.
I have such a black bag now, and whenever I use it in teaching I tell them the story of my dear teacher and her black bag. I use it now as a covering for my objects. If the children see the objects before you use them the surprise element is lacking. If they are brought out ofa bag as you use them, the children will be curious about what comes next, and will wait and watch as you speak.
The black bag can be easily made as it is a regular bag. Make it about the size of a child's school-bag, and as books of learning come forth from such a bag tell them that they can learn something from your black bag. You may load it with a variety of objects, if you so desire, and let each object teach a lesson. Some of the objects used in the chapters of this book can be made first to appear from the black bag.
56
A CHAPTER TO BE READ FOR THE TRAININGOF THE OBJECT WORKER
This is an uncommon object-lesson. It is a curio in visual instruction. One summer while traveling in the great Northwest, I dropped into a Salvation Army meeting, and in theirWar Cry,which I then purchased, I read the following story.
It is a record of the conquest of an uncommon object-lesson upon which God had put his great O.K. by the salvation of a soul. Read it through as another helpful illustration of the ministry of visual instruction in thorny ground. This was the story.
"A friend of mine was once coming on a train when five of the nine in the coach began to play cards; they were evidently sharpers, and before long challenged others to play with them, but all declined, At last they turned to my friend and said:
"We can see by your face that you fully understand the game; come, take a turn."
"I did know the cards once; but it is so long since I played that I forget how to play."
"Nonsense!" they said, "you could win all our money, if you only tried."
"Perhaps that would not be very much," he replied; "anyway, I will not attempt. Five of you are enough for your game; we will look on."
As they still pegged away at him, he said at last:
"Gentlemen, I tell you I cannot play; but there is one thing I can do."
"What is that?" they asked eagerly.
"I can tell fortunes."
"Capital! Will you tell ours?"
"If you wish it; but, I warn you it may not be very flattering."
"What card will you want?"
"The five of spades, please,"and it was handed to him with expectation of great sport.
"I shall require one other thing, if you don't mind," he further said.
"What?" they asked a little impatiently.
"A Bible."
They could not produce one.
"No, but you had one once," said the fortune-teller, "and if you had followed its precepts you would not be where you now are. However, I have one," and to their dismay he produced it.
A pistol would hardly have been a more unwelcome object. But the fortune-teller began:
"Gentlemen, you see these two pips at the top of the card? I wish them to represent your two eyes; this one in the middle, your mouth; and these other two, your knees. Now, in Revelation 1:7 I read, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.' The speaker is the Nazarene, once red with blood for sinners like you and me. Your eyes will see him, and you will have to stand before him to be judged. That is the future of your eyes," he continued; "now concerning your mouth and knees, let me read Philippians 2:9-11:'Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' From this I foretell that: your knees will bow to Jesus, and your tongue that used to say, 'Gentle Jesus' and 'Our Father,' will have to confess that he is Lord of all. Your eyes will see him, and when you see him, your knees will grow weak, and you will fall before his majesty."
They got more than they bargained for; but he gave them some more.
"Gentlemen, that is only the first reading of this card; now for the second, if you please. These five spades represent five actual spades that are already made, and may, ere long, dig the graves of you five sinners, and then your souls will be inthe lost worldcrying in thirst for a drop of water and you will wish you had never been born."
The five card-sharpers were getting more and more fidgety; but it was useless, for they could not get out, as the train would not stop for some time yet.
"Gentlemen," continued the fortune-teller, "you may escape this terrible future, and my fortune not come true, if you will do what I did, and perhaps I was the worst of the six. My eyes saw Jesus upon a cross for me in my stead, bearing my doom, My tongue confessed him as Lord, and my knees bowed to him in lowly submission. If you do this, I can foretell the very reverse of all I have said. I have told your fortunes, as I promised, and if I am right, you ought to cross my palmwith a dollar apiece; but I do not wish your five dollars. I will be content if one of you will promise to try the Saviour whose blood cleanseth from all sin."
They would neither pay nor promise; but as the train pulled up at the station they tumbled out as if the carriage had contained a smallpox patient, leaving my friend in possession of the "five of spades."
"Stop," he cried, "here is your card," which he tossed after them.
Recently walking near his home at Shepherd's Bush, London, he was accosted by some one saying,
"Good evening, sir."
"It is a good evening, if all your sins are forgiven," was the rejoinder.
"Yes, and I am glad you are still at it," replied the stranger.
"Still at what?"
"Telling fortunes."
"That is not my line."
"Well, you told mine more than ten years ago."
"I think you are mistaken," said my friend.
"No; any one who has once seen you can never mistake you."
He then recalled the memorable ride.
"Ah! I remember, and you left like a lot of cowards, without paying the fortune-teller."
"I am your payment. Your words came true of three of us;three spades have dug their graves. The other one I saw a few days ago; he is anxious to be saved from the fortune you foretold, and is attending religious meetings. As I parted with him I said, 'Sam, don't forget the five of spades.'"
"And what about yourself?"
"When you saw me, I had been to a sister's. I was right down miserable. Mother had just died. Calling me to her bedside, she had said: 'William, kiss your mother, and I leave you this Scripture: "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him"' (Rev. 1:7). When you quoted those very words, it seemed as if my dear mother rose up and frowned upon the cards. That text followed me. I drank, and drank, and drank again; but continually I heard, 'Every eye shall see him.' At last I went to California, for the gold-diggings. As soon as I landed, having nothing to do, I stopped to hear some singing; the singers formed a little procession, and I followed to a hall, When the young man got up to speak, he gave out as his text, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.' It was more than I could stand; that night I bowed my knees in submission, saw Jesus as my Saviour, and with my tongue confessed him."
He was soon going back to the diggings; but that one interview was good payment for the fortune-teller.
This is the story of five spades which dug their way through a hardened conscience and there found the open door to a closed heart.
It was God's way and therefore wonderfully good.
57
OBJECTS: A Plush Box and a Plain Wooden Box
In one of the great New York daily newspapers some days ago I read the following announcement:
The Kaiser's Cup which belonged to the winner of a trans-Atlantic yacht race has been sold for the benefit of the Red Cross and was publicly broken into pieces in New York City. It was supposed to be made of solid gold and to be worth five thousand dollars. It was really made of pewter with a thin gold lining and was valued at about forty dollars.
"Things are not always what they seem to be," said one of the wise men of the other century, and the famous Kaiser's Cup is another illustration of the truth of that statement. When I was a child I read in my old blue primer the story of a great dance at which time two children appeared on the floor dressed in gay attire and danced to the great delight of the assembled people, who greatly wondered at the skill of two such small people when suddenly some one rolled an orange across the floor when the two little dancers stopped their fancy dancing and made a mad rush for the orange; they fought for it to such an extent that they tore off their gilded robes, and lo, they were only two little monkeys. It was the story of the Kaiser's Cup dramatized on a ballroom floor. Don't let a bright exterior dazzle your eye, remember the cup may be made of pewter, not gold.
To illustrate this truth, secure two boxes; one should be covered with plush, the other, just a common wooden box. The plush box should be empty, the plain box loaded with beautiful flowers or other valuable things. Have these two boxes on the table in full view of the audience. After you have told the story of the Kaiser's Cup, turn to the two boxes and say: "Look at these two boxes on the table before you; which of them do you think is of the greater value? I think I hear you answer and say, 'The beautiful plush box, it looks just like a box containing jewels.' You open it and find it contains nothing. It is the truth of the Kaiser's Cup in wood. Gold on the outside, pewter on the inside."
Then open the plain wooden box and show it to be full of flowers which you scatter about on the table or distribute among the people, "Things are not what they seem to be" is as true today as when the saying was first uttered. Learn to see things as God sees them; man looketh upon the outward countenance, but God at the heart.
Remember there is coming a time when the Kaiser's Cup will be broken. We call that time the Day of Judgment, the Bible gives it that name. When that day does come, then all that is hidden will be revealed; then our cup of life will be tested by God's word. Will it be pure gold or will it be like the Kaiser's Cup?
A little girl surprised her father by asking him the question, "What is God's address?" The father, wishing to teach his little child a lesson, said, "1421 Grand Avenue." It was the number of their own house he had given. He meant to say to her, "God is living here with us." Both God and the little girl had the sameaddress. The cup of their home was gold inside also. Martin Luther had the same thought in his mind when once a stranger knocked at his door and said, "Who lives here?" Luther replied, "God and Martin Luther." If we can say this of our hearts, "Jesus and I live in the same heart together," we shall be able to stand when the great day comes when evil things will be opened up and broken up.
Remember the Kaiser's Cup.
58
OBJECT: A Map of Palestine Constructed with Piecesof Rags
Here is another way of teaching children sacred geography.
It is a map of the Holy Land made of pieces of canton flannel cut out into various forms and put together in map form before the class. Secure a piece of black canton flannel or dye it black if it cannot be secured in that color. Mount it on a frame with the rough finished side on the front, giving it a slight tilt backward. Make this background as large as you desire, the larger the better, and make all the figures herein mentioned of the same material and put the rough side of each figure against the background, pressing down the figure and smoothing it out with the hand, and it will stay in its place without the use of pins or tacks. The fact that it stays put develops a great degree of interest in the little folks, and they will watch you with big eyes of curiosity. In building this rag map first cut out a number of strips about one inch wide, and with these make the coast-line.
After this cut out strips of blue representing the water ways and put them in their proper places. After this cut out a number of pointed pieces about five inches to the peak. These will represent the mountains. Put these in their respective places. Now cut out a number of square red pieces about two inches square,and cause these to represent the cities and put them in their proper locations.
After this much of the map is finished drill the children in the location of the rivers, mountains, and cities. Let them put the figures in their proper places and build that part of the map themselves. After this teach them the Bible history of each locality.
Cut out a star in yellow, put this over Bethlehem, and tell them the Christmas story. Put a red cross over Jerusalem, and call it the Crucifixion City, and tell them the story of the Cross. Now make a flat form of a water-pot and place it next to the city of Cana and tell the story of the first miracle.
Next cut out in brown a small ladder and place it next to Bethel. Tell the story of Jacob and his dream.
Cut out a representation of a bottle which you call a "bottle of oil," and place it near to Jericho, and tell the story of the Good Samaritan and how the oil was poured into the wounds of the man who fell among thieves.
Cut out now a representation of a hammer and place it over Nazareth, and tell the story of the Carpentershop and how Jesus worked in it while he was learning his trade. Cut out a side view of an altar and put it on Mount Carmel and tell the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal.
Cut out a representation of a green tree; place that next to Gethsemane and tell the story of the prayers of Jesus under the olive-trees.
Cut out a white representation of a tent and place it by the side of Hebron and tell the story of Abraham and the Visiting Angels.
Now cut out a number of dark green trees, and placethem in the Mountains of Lebanon in the far north, and tell them the story of the building of Solomon's Temple, and how they took the timber from these hills to build the Temple.
Cut out a representation of a one-story Oriental house, and place it near to Bethany, and tell the story of the Home of Mary and Martha, the place where Jesus loved to go. After the map is finished take down these pictures, and ask the children to put them back into their proper places and tell the Bible story connected with each.
This method of teaching sacred geography you will find to be very interesting to boys and girls because they are building together. Here is another use to which you can put the rag method.
If you so desire you can make profile or front-view pictures and tell more Bible stories with them. Here is a representation of the Ark and Tower of Babel.