BALANCES.

Ants.Ants.

This grasshopper very fittingly represents the feeling and thought which come into the mind of every boy when he is at first required to work, to go to school and study, when he is being taught to be industrious and useful. When the days are pleasant, boys do not like to go to school. When a pleasant Sunday morning comes in the springtime, they often wish to stay at home, to go out to the park, or to roam about the fields, and if most of the boysand girls had their own way about it, in the beginning, they would live pretty much like the grasshopper. They would get what pleasure they could out of the days as they pass, grow up in ignorance and idleness, and in manhood and womanhood find themselves in poverty and want. I think that pretty much all boys and girls are naturally lazy, and that feeling can only be cured by being required to work, being compelled to go to school and study, and being kept persistently at it from week to week and year to year, until at last they learn to love to work. If the parents of the grasshopper had not themselves been lazy and grown up in idleness, they would have taught the young grasshopper that in the spring and summer he was to look forward to the wants and needs of the winter. The older ants always teach the young ants to work, and in that they are very wise.

Perhaps you have seen boys and girls who have learned to work, who are always very active, who seem always to be busy, but after all accomplish nothing of any moment in life. If we want to live to some purpose in this world, we must remember that we should have a purpose worthy of ourselves, and of the great Father in Heaven who has created us. After a few months and years the grasshoppers and the ants and all the insects die, but you and I shall live on forever and ever. These bodies will be laid away in the grave, but our immortal spirits shall still continue to live. The stars in heaven which have been shining for thousands and thousands of years shall eventually grow pale. The sun itself shall cease to shine, and all the heavens and the universe about us shall be rolled together as a scroll. But these immortal spirits of yours and mine shall live on with God throughout all eternity. It is important, therefore, that our industry and our thought and our labor should not be for those things which perish with the using; that we should not simply lay up treasures which we must after atime go away and leave behind us in this world, but that we should lay up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; that where our treasure is, there our hearts may be also; and that we may possess and enjoy our treasure throughout all eternity.

I hope that every time you see a grasshopper or an ant, you will remember the lesson which I have sought to teach you to-day.

Questions.—What is on the top of the Royal Exchange in London? Who built the Exchange? Why did he put the grasshopper there? Tell all you can about the little boy and girl going through the field. What kind of boys and girls is like the grasshopper? What does the grasshopper do in summer? What happens to him when winter comes? Is the ant like the grasshopper, or is he industrious? What does the Bible say about the ant? How does he spendthesummer? Does he have food for winter use? Does each ant work for itself alone? Who teach the young ants to work? Do boys and girls all have to be taught to work? Do all people who are busy accomplish something worthy of their effort? What should we live for?

Boy pointing at ants

Suggestion:—Objects: A pair of ordinary balances. A very good pair for illustration can easily be made from a piece of wood, a few strings and a couple of little paper boxes.

DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I suppose you have all stood on the scales and been weighed. I have here a pair of balances. This was doubtless one of the earliest kind of instruments with which people weighed different things, and it is the kind of scales which are still used when the greatest accuracy is desired. These are called a balance, because when I hold them by this string you will see that this end of thearm and that end of the arm are equal in length and equal in weight and they exactly balance each other. Now when I place anything in the pan on this end of the arm, and place a small weight in the pan on the opposite arm, and then lift the balance up, you will see how I can readily tell how much the piece of metal, or piece of wood, or whatever I have placed in the balances, weighs. In the drug stores they use this kind of scales to weigh medicines, and they can tell accurately the weight of a very small quantity. In the laboratory, or the place where medicines are made, they have this kind of scales that will weigh the smallest particle of dust; even a small piece of a hair laid on the scales can be weighed accurately.

Balances.Balances.

In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel we read about a king whose name was Belshazzar, who lived in the great city of Babylon, surrounded by a great wall three hundred feet high and eighty feet broad, and with a hundred gates of brass, twenty-five gates on each side of the city, and a street running from each of the gates upon the one side, straight across the city to each of the corresponding gates upon the opposite side, a distance of some twelve or fifteen miles; and then other streets crossing these first twenty-five streets, running between the gates which were upon the other two sides of the city. God had blessed this king of Babylon and given him great wealth and great power; but he became proud and defied God. One night he made a great feast and invited a thousand of his lords and the generals of his army, and sent for the golden vessels of the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought down from Jerusalem, and Belshazzar drank wine out of these sacred vessels of the Temple. And, like men and women when they drink liquor, they lost their reason, and they praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and brass, and iron, and wood, and of stone, and thus dishonored God; and there appeared in the banqueting hall the fingers of a man's hand and wrote on the wall so that allmight see and read it, and these were the words which were written before that wicked king: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." (Daniel v: 27.)

Now you see that God weighs men and women, not for the purpose of telling how many pounds their bodies weigh, but He weighs their character, He weighs their conduct, He weighs their purposes, and He weighs their principles, and so He weighed Belshazzar, and He said of him and to him, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." God weighed Belshazzar as though he were placed in this side of the balance, and on the other side of the balance were placed all his opportunities, privileges and his blessings, and all that God had done for him. When God thus weighed him against all these things Belshazzar was found so light that he did not weigh as much as the privileges and blessings which God had given him, and therefore, God said that he was weighed in the balances and was found wanting.

In just this same way God weighs you and me, in order that we may see whether or not we weigh enough. Suppose we turn to the twentieth chapter of Exodus and there find what God requires of us. You will find that God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

"Thou Art Weighed in the Balances, and Art Found Wanting.""Thou Art Weighed in the Balances, and Art Found Wanting."

Now suppose I place this requirement in one side of the balance, and then ask you to place your obedience to this requirement in the other side of the balance. I am sure there are a great manygrown men and women who could not be weighed against this requirement. If a man loves money, so that he sacrifices his obedience to God, or sacrifices his character, or gives too large an amount of time to money-making, and money-getting; if his love of money is very great, you see how he makes money a sort of a god—that is, that he exalts his love of money above his love of God. In the same way a person can worship pleasure, and ease, and fame in such a way as to exalt these above God. Now any one who has done this, cannot be weighed against this requirement of God's law without being found wanting.

If we take the next Commandment, it reads, "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Now anybody who has ever sworn cannot be weighed against this Commandment. A man who curses and swears is a very wicked man. I hope that none of you, boys or girls, will ever profane God's name and disgrace yourself by swearing.

I want to caution you, also, against the use of by-words. Sometimes boys swear without knowing it; they say "By Jiminy." Now, the word "Gemini" means "Twins," and refers to two heathen gods whose names were "Castor" and "Pollux," and when boys use the expression, "By Jiminy," they are swearing by those two heathen gods. Jesus said, "Swear not at all." (Matt. v: 34.) Then not only those who literally swear, but all those who use God's name without reverence and who make light of sacred things break this Commandment. So you see that many are not able to be weighed against this Commandment.

Then take the next: "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." There are many people who remember the Sabbath Day simply to make it the occasion of visiting, letter writing, and to enjoy a trip into the country, or in the park. They remember theSabbath Day, but they do not remember it to keep it holy. So you see that you would not be able to be weighed against that requirement.

Now take the next: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." If God were to come into this community and weigh the boys and girls against this Commandment, how many do you think would be found to whom God would turn and say, as He did to Belshazzar: "Thou art weighed and art found wanting"? Any boy or girl who speaks of his father as "The old man," and of his mother as "The old woman"; any boy or girl who is disobedient; any girl who yesterday when mother asked her to dust the furniture, or any boy who when mother asked him yesterday to run upon an errand, grew petulant, and scowled and scolded, perhaps went out of the room and slammed the door behind them, all such boys and girls would be found wanting. You see how, with one after another of these Commandments, if God were to weigh us we would be found wanting.

If we take the other Commandments, "Thou shall not kill," anybody who has hated his brother in his heart; "Thou shall not commit adultery," any one who has harbored lust in his heart; "Thou shall not steal"; "Thou shall not bear false witness"; "Thou shall not covet"; think of each of these and see how many times in your life you have broken them, if not in letter, yet in spirit.

Now, if you cannot be weighed against these different requirements and you have come short of them in the past, how can you expect to stand in the great Day of Judgment, when God shall take into account every idle word that we have ever uttered, every wicked thought; when we shall be weighed in the just balances of an infinite God? When God shall place these requirements upon one side of the balance, and you and I shall step in upon the otherside of the balance, there is only one possible way in which we could then be heavy enough, and that is if we could have our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, to step into the balance with us, as He is willing to do, and God should accept the obedience and holiness of His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ in our stead. Unless you and I have Jesus Christ with us when we step into that balance, it will be said, "Thou art found wanting." Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your friend, and are you trying to serve Him? If you have not now made Him your friend, how can you hope to have His friendship then? May God help you to have Jesus as your friend in life, as well as in death; in this life as well as in the life to come, now while being tempted and tried in this world, as well as when being weighed in the next.

Questions.—What was the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast? Does God weigh our bodies? What does He weigh? Against what was Belshazzar weighed? What are we weighed against? Are we weighed against each commandment separately? Can a person who has sworn be weighed against the third commandment? Is the use of by-words swearing? Are we honoring our parents by speaking disrespectfully of them? Can we break a commandment in thought as well as in deed? Tell how. Will all these requirements over-balance us? What must we do to make a proper balance? Is Christ willing to step into the scales with us?

Playing with scales

Suggestion:—Objects: A few pine sticks, some charred; ink and water.

ALL boys and girls like to have companions, some one to play with, and therefore it is very wise that I should talk to you to-day about good and bad company.

First of all let me read some passages from the Bible. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." (Psalms i: 1.) "Forsake the foolish and live; and go in the way of understanding." (Proverbs ix: 6.) But here is a passage of Scripture which is exactly suited to my purpose to-day: "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." (Proverbs xiii: 20.)

When you go into a large library to select books you will always find that they are classified. Some of the shelves have books of history, others have books of poetry, and so on throughout the entire library. In this way God has classified different people in this text. One class is called wise, and the others are called foolish. A companion of wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. In the same way there are good boys and bad boys, good girls and bad girls; and when you choose your companions it is important that you should choose them among the good, and not among the bad.

I think you will better understand the teaching of the text, when I show you this one stick that has been burned black, or charred, as we say. Now here are several clean sticks which have not been burned, which are white and not tarnished. Let this black stick represent the boys who smoke, or chew, or swear, or lie, or deceive their parents; boys or girls who do not go to Sunday-school, who do not obey their parents, and who do not love God. These clean sticks will represent good boys and girls. Now suppose the good boys and girls choose the bad boys and girls as their companions and playmates; what do you think would be the result? I will mix these sticks together. I am sure that nobody would expect that the white sticks would transfer their purity and cleanness to this black stick. When I mix them, or rub them together, the black sticks get no whiter, but all the white sticks get blacker.

White and Charred Sticks.White and Charred Sticks.

That is the way it always is with the boys who keep bad company. Instead of exerting a good influence, so as to reform and purify, and make good boys of the bad boys, the bad boys make bad boys of the good boys. At first the good boys are horrified at what they hear and see the bad boys say and do. After a while it ceases to be unpleasant to them. A little later they may possibly laugh at the bad boys, but after a while they will come to like thebad boys, and finally they will do as the bad boys do and become like them in conduct and in character.

Perhaps you have seen boys who like to take cork and burn it in the candle or fire, and then blacken their faces with it, so as to make them look like colored people. Now, it is not the best thing for a white boy to try to look like a colored boy, but if he does rub this black on his face, he can wash it off with soap and water. But when a good boy goes with bad boys and his character becomes tarnished and blackened, he cannot cleanse and purify it so easily. He not only gets a bad character but a bad reputation as well, both of which are very difficult to cleanse or to get rid of.

Glass of Water and Bottle of Ink.Glass of Water and Bottle of Ink.

Now, here I have a glass of water and a bottle of ink. If I take and pour a half a teaspoonful of this water into the ink, it makes no particular difference in its color. But if I take only two or three drops of ink and mix them with the water, it discolors the entire glass of water at once. One or two good boys in the midst of many bad ones are likely to be influenced in a bad direction. This is especially true if the good boys have sought the bad boys as companions. Even one or two bad boys, placed in the midst of several good boys, may exert a very bad influence over them. I suppose you have all seen this illustrated in the school room. You may have had a set of good boys, or a set of good girls in your class, but some day a bad boy came to the school, or a badgirl joined the class and they were frivolous, laughed and talked and were disorderly, disobeyed the teacher, played truant and did all kinds of naughtiness when in school, and it had its bad effect upon the entire class, and sometimes even upon the entire school.

The text teaches us that we should avoid such foolish boys and foolish girls; boys and girls who do not obey God or revere the Bible, who do not listen to their consciences, nor do that which is right. Such should be avoided at all times, and in choosing our companions, we should always prefer those who will have an influence for good upon us socially, intellectually and morally.

The influence of bad companions will tend to destroy all our best interests physically, by leading to every kind of vice and evil; destroy us financially, by causing us to be inattentive to our work, causing us to prefer idleness and pleasure to labor and usefulness; destroy us morally, by making light of the teachings of the Bible, the importance of the Sunday-school and of the Church, the authority of father and mother and the wisdom of what they teach and require of us.

But in addition to all this, we should remember that those who are our companions upon earth, will be our companions in the world to come. If we go with the wicked and the profane here, we shall dwell with them forever in the world to come. If we desire to go to heaven and to be forever with those who are good and righteous, pure and holy; if we desire to be happy for ever and ever in the world to come, we must choose as our companions here, those who are living not for this present fleeting life, but who are living for the glory of God and who are trusting sincerely in Jesus Christ for everlasting salvation.

May God help us all to be wise and to walk with the wise, and not to be foolish and choose fools as our companions, both for time and eternity.

Questions.—Into what two classes has God divided people? What does the Bible tell us will happen to a companion of fools?—of wise men? Whom do the charred sticks represent? Who are like the white sticks? If the sticks are rubbed together, what is the result? What happens to good boys who keep bad company? Do the good boys become bad immediately? What do bad companions do to one's character? Can a boy wash "burnt cork" from his face? Can he wash the stains from his character? What else besides a bad character is given? Will a few drops of water change the color of a bottle of ink? Will a few drops of ink change the color of a glass of water? Who are like the ink-drops? Who are like the water-drops? Why? Whom shall we choose for companions? Who will be our companions in eternity?

The Camp of the Israelites.The Camp of the Israelites.

Suggestion:—If a real live dog is too diverting, an earthen or bisque dog, or the accompanying picture of the dogs of St. Bernard, may be sufficient.

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: I want to talk to you to-day about dogs. The dog is what is called a domestic animal, and wherever you find civilized men and women, you will find dogs of some kind. Dogs are not only loved because they are companionable, but because they are also, oftentimes, very serviceable.

In Switzerland there are some very high mountains, and some years ago, when there were no tunnels yet dug under the mountains, as there are to-day, travelers during the winter, when going from Germany to Italy, or returning from Italy to Germany, had to cross over the tops of these mountains. The snow was always deep and the journey was always dangerous, particularly in the winter.

The Dogs of St. Bernard Copyrighted 1911 by Sylvanus StallCopyrighted 1911 by Sylvanus StallThe Dogs of St. Bernard

There are several places where the mountains can be crossed, and these places are called "passes," such as the Simplon, St. Bernard and St. Gothard passes. Some years ago, in company with a friend, I crossed the St. Gothard pass on the 20th of June. That year the season was very late, and after we got well up the mountain, we found the snow from five to ten feet deep on the level, and when we arrived on the top of the mountain, the snow was even with the roof of a two-story building which stood there, and thepeople living in it had tunneled under the snow, around the outside of the building. If this was the way it was on the 20th of June, you can easily imagine what an awfully cold and stormy place it must be to live during the entire winter. It took our horses a long time to take us up the mountain, but when we went down on the Italian side they went quite rapidly, and in one hour and forty minutes from the time we left the Hotel de la Prosa, where the snow was so very deep, we were down in the village of Airolo, where little girls were selling ripe cherries. It seemed as though we had jumped right out of the heart of winter, into the pleasant and fruitful days of summer.

On the top of each of these mountain passes, there is built what is called a hospice, which means hospitality, the same word from which we get our word hospital. These buildings are erected for the entertainment of poor travelers, who are compelled to cross the mountains in the winter. There are a number of monks, who live in each of these places of entertainment. On each of these mountain passes the monks have some large dogs, which are known as the dogs of St. Bernard. In the winter when it is snowing, and travelers are likely to be exhausted by their efforts to ascend the mountain, and are liable to be lost in the snow-storms which prevail almost every day, these dogs are sent out by the monks with a supply of food and wine suspended from their necks, and they go all over the mountain, barking and making a great noise. When they discover a poor traveler who is perishing in the snow, they allow him to take the food and the wine in order that he may be stimulated and revived, and then these faithful and intelligent dogs lead the way to the place of safety and security.

Oftentimes they find men who have become nearly frozen, who have fallen down in the snow in an unconscious state and are ready to die. If left for a time these men would soon freeze todeath beneath the snow that falls very rapidly upon them. These dogs are very intelligent, and immediately they will begin to scrape the snow off the traveler, lick his hands, and if he does not give any indications of life they will then lie down upon his body, that the warmth from their own body may quicken him again into consciousness, that he may drink the wine and eat the food and be stimulated enough to do something toward getting himself on to the place of safety. If the man is not too heavy, the dog might even be able to carry him.

Dogs Rescuing Traveler.Dogs Rescuing Traveler.

At the hospice on the St. Bernard pass they once had a faithful dog which had been successful in thus rescuing sixty-eight persons from freezing to death upon the mountains. The dog was very sagacious, and seemed to know exactly what to do when he found a poor traveler dying in the snow. One day he found a man who had evidently been lying for some time in the snow, which had already quiteburied him. The man was entirely unconscious, and when the dog found him he began immediately to scrape away the snow and then lay down upon this dying man, that the warmth of his own body might quicken him again into consciousness. When the man began to revive, and discovered that there was something warm lying upon him, he thought it was a wolf or some wild animal which possibly designed to take his life. He reached into his belt and drew a dagger, which he thrust into the body of the faithful dog that had come to rescue him from freezing to death. The poor dog was fatally wounded. He started back home, but in a short time after reaching it bled to death. The monks had this dog's skin stuffed and placed in the hospice, and now he seems constantly to teach an object lesson to all travelers who cross the Alps and stop at the hospice.

The story of this faithful dog and his sad death reminds us of that loving Saviour, who came from heaven to this world, to seek and to save those who were lost. And although He came to redeem and rescue us from death, yet wicked men in this world crucified Him by nailing Him to a cross upon Calvary, and this is what every person is doing to-day who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to you and to me, desiring to save us from our sins and from everlasting death; to save not only our bodies, but our souls for all eternity. If we reject Him we are told in the Bible that "we crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame." I am sure no thoughtful boy or girl would be guilty of wilfully stabbing any kind dog that would come to their rescue if they were perishing in the snow, and I trust that none of you will ever reject Jesus and thrust Him away from you, and thus crucify Him for yourself and put Him to an open shame before the world.

This faithful dog should also teach you and me another lesson. If a dog can make himself so useful as to save the lives of sixty-eight people, you and I should ask ourselves the questionwhether we are doing as much for the blessing and the salvation of men as this faithful dog did on the mountains of Switzerland? But you can do a great deal more than this dog. He could only save the lives of people, but God can use you to save their souls as well, by the influence of a noble Christian life, by what you say and do, by your contributions to missions, and in various other ways you may help to save the souls of many who must otherwise perish.

But this faithful dog teaches us a lesson of constant, daily duty. It was no easy thing for this dog to go out in the fierce cold through the deep snow and run about all day to hunt for lost travelers, but it was by keeping constantly at it and working faithfully day after day that he accomplished this grand result. He did not save sixty-eight people all at one time, but saved one at a time, and sometimes worked for days and weeks without finding a single traveler whom he could help. In the same way, if you desire to be useful in this world, you must use every little opportunity which comes to you daily. You must be willing to work hard and keep at it, and even though you cannot succeed in doing any great thing at any one time, remember that you must keep doing little things all the while. I trust that God may inspire each of you to desire to accomplish grand results in your lives by the constant doing of both little and great things for God and man.

Questions.—Are dogs serviceable? What kinds are the most useful? Where do they live? For what and by whom are they used? What do the dogs do to revive a traveler? Tell the story of the dog of the St. Bernard Pass. Of what does this story remind us? Does Christ try to rescue us? What are we doing when we reject Him? What lesson does this dog teach us? Can we do as much as this dog did? Why? What can we do which the dog could not do? What other lesson does this dog teach us? Did the dog save all the sixty-eight people at one time? Are we able to accomplish God's work all at one time? How must we do it?

Suggestion:—Objects: A small camera and a small looking glass.

A Camera.A Camera.

WHILE talking to you to-day about pictures, it will not seem strange that I should have a camera as the object with which to illustrate the sermon. But my purpose may not be so plain to you when you hear my text, which is taken from the book of Revelation, twentieth chapter, twelfth verse: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

"Throwing a Black Cloth Over His Head He Moved About the Camera.""Throwing a Black Cloth Over His Head He Moved About the Camera."

These words refer to the great Judgment Day. I suppose that you know that we must all die, but possibly you did not know, orhave forgotten, that after a time God will raise up all the dead and will separate the good people from the bad people, the righteous from the wicked. The time when God will do this is called the great Judgment Day. It is then that the words which I have read as my text tell us that "the books shall be opened," and then all that we have ever done or said in this life shall be found written in these books.

Now, if God is keeping a record of all our deeds and words, and even our inmost thoughts, which He also knows; and not only keeping a record of your words and thoughts and mine, but also of those of every man, woman and child—a record of all the fourteen hundred millions now living upon our earth—you might think that millions of angels would be kept very busy writing all these things down in these books. I do not know justhowGod is doing this, but I do know two ways in which He could easily accomplish what to us may seem a difficult or impossible task.

I will now try to show you how God might keep the record of everything we do; and next Sunday I will try to tell you how, with equal ease, God might secure and keep the record of all we say, of each and every word we speak.

I suppose you have all gone to a photograph gallery and had your pictures taken. When you stood before an instrument, something like this, only perhaps much larger, the artist went behind the big instrument, which was pointed right toward you, and throwing a black cloth over his head, he moved about the camera, told you just how to hold your head, and finally when everything was arranged and he was ready, he pressed a small rubber ball which opened the little slide, just as you would open your eye to look at any object, and in an instant your picture was taken.

That large camera, with which the artist took your picture, was in principle just like the smaller and more simple one which Ihave shown you, and both are made to imitate, or in a rude way to be like the human eye.

Now, if I point this camera toward you, make it dark back of the camera, either by placing a black cloth over my head or in any other way, your picture will at once appear upon this glass which is at the back of the camera. Now the reason why I can see your photograph on this ground glass is because the rays of light which are reflected or come from your face, into this opening in the camera, have your likeness upon them, and when the light falls against this glass I can see your picture which is photographed upon the rays of light, just the same as your picture is photographed on paper. So every object about us is photographed on the rays of light and the picture becomes visible when we turn our eye, which is a small but perfect camera, so that the rays of light can go straight into our eye and the picture fall upon the back of the eye, which is called the retina, and with which this glass in the camera corresponds.

An ordinary looking-glass will demonstrate or show the same thing. This covering on the back of the glass corresponds to the black cloth with which the photographer shuts out the rays of light which come from the back of the camera. In the same way the ground at the bottom of the pond cuts off the rays from beneath, and on this account you can see the hills, or stars, or clouds reflected in the water; so also in the looking-glass, as you turn it in different directions you can see the photographs of persons or objects which are pictured upon the rays of light.

You may have thought that you saw the person or objects themselves, but this is not the case. With your eyes you can see nothing in the dark; even the cat and the owl must have some light, although they do not need as much as we, before they can see. The rays of light carry the pictures of the objects, and where there are no rays of light we can see nothing.

Now, while your photograph is being taken from the few rays of light which pass into a camera, you see that we might place hundreds of cameras one above another, and if they were all pointed at you they might each take a photograph of you at the same instant—the same as one thousand different persons in an audience with their two thousand eyes all look toward the speaker and see him at one and the same instant.

Now, if I have succeeded in making my thought plain, you will readily understand that as we have great books with pictures upon every page, so God might use these rays of light as the pages of the great book upon which each act of our life instantly records itself, it matters not how rapidly it is done or how many persons and objects there may be in motion or action at the same instant. The fact that the different rays of light carry the pictures of the objects from which they are reflected, is illustrated in the wonderful cameras with which "moving pictures" are taken.

To older persons I might add that if you recall the scientific fact that these rays of light, bearing the images or photographs of persons and objects from which they are reflected, dash out into space at the rate of 192,000 miles in one second, and that they continue to move on indefinitely, you see how the rays of light which were reflected and are now carrying the image of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, of Noah coming out of the ark, of the battle of Bunker Hill, and those carrying the pictures of all other objects and actions since the Creation until now, are still sweeping on through space, and if you and I could be present where these rays of light are now sweeping onward, we could see these things as actually and really as if they were even now taking place in our presence upon the earth. And you will also understand how, as God is everywhere present, He is also present in space where these rays of light are at this moment, and so every scene in the entire history ofthe world is perpetually visible to Him. And so, even with our feeble understanding, you see how the past may always be present to the Infinite and everywhere-present God.

Now, my dear young friends, remember as we see the acts of each other, so God sees all that we do, even when no one else is present to see us. Do not think that God sees and then forgets. All we do is being constantly photographed, not in a camera like this, but upon the rays of light as upon the pages of a great book, and in the great Judgment Day, God will judge us out of the things recorded against us in these books. Our acts record themselves, and in that great day we shall no more be able to deny the correctness of the record than we would be able to deny the personality or identity of our own photograph.

Questions.—What is meant by the great Judgment Day? What will God do on that day? Of what does God keep a record? Do we know exactly how He does it? What two ways are there in which He might do it? What brings the person's image upon the ground glass of the camera? What have we that is like the camera? Which part of the eye is like the ground glass of the camera? Why can we not see in the dark? Could God use the rays of light instead of the pages of a book? Is the image of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden still existing? Where? Are the images of all other events also passing through space? Can God see them all at once? Does God see all of our acts?

Camera and ribbon

talking on soup can telephones

Suggestion:—Object: A small tin box, with a cover and bottom removed. Over one end draw and tie a piece of parchment, or even of strong manilla paper, in the center of the miniature drum-head thus formed fasten a thin string, and you will then have a rude but real telephone and a good representation also of the phonograph.

LAST Sunday I talked to you about the great Judgment Day and tried to illustrate to your minds what is said in Revelation, twentieth chapter, twelfth verse, where it says, "The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." I tried then to make plain how God pictures or photographs all our acts upon the rays of light,and how we see the objects about us when the rays of light fall upon the retina of the eye. I tried to show you how every ray of light carries a photograph or picture, and that these rays of light are sweeping out into space at the rate of 192,000 miles per second, and that if you and I could be present where these rays, carrying the picture of the battle of Bunker Hill are now hurrying through space, you could see the battle, as if it were taking place at present. If you had a camera with you, you could actually take a photograph of it, the same as you could have done had you been on the hills outside of Boston on the day when this great battle was being fought.

But that is only one book; God has other books also. But you know you can not photograph what a person says. So I want to try and show you how our words and all we say also go into a great book and write themselves down, so as to become permanent for all time.

Now, I have here a baking-powder box, from which I have removed the ends, and in place of the tin have covered it with a stout piece of paper which I have tried to draw very smoothly. With two such boxes, connected by a string, we could make a telephone so that we could talk together a short distance. Or with only one box we could construct a very rude but yet very suggestive phonograph.

Let me tell you how it is that you can hear over the telephone, whether made of a simple box and string like this, or with a wire and electric battery, for in one respect they are both alike.

If you will place your finger gently on your throat, against what is sometimes called "Adam's Apple," but what is really the delicate little instrument with which we speak, and then utter some words in a strong, clear voice, you will doubtless feel a vibration or trembling in your throat, just the same as I now feel in my throat while I am talking. My effort to speak causes these little chords in my throat to vibrate, just the same as when you pass your fingersover the chords of a harp or violin, or when you strike the keys of a piano you make the wires tremble and thus produce sound, so these chords in my throat tremble and cause the air to tremble, producing what we call sound-waves. Just the same as when you take a stone and drop it into the lake, you see the little waves or ripples, as we call them, go out in small circles, wider and wider, further and further, until they strike the distant shore. So the air is made to vibrate by my effort to speak, and these little sound-waves in the air strike against the drum of your ear, back of which there are nerves, ever ready to convey to the brain the sensation which we call sound,

"The Little Waves or Ripples.""The Little Waves or Ripples."

"Like clear circles widening roundUpon a clear blue river,Orb after orb, the wondrous soundIs echoed on forever."

Now, this small baking-powder box represents the ear, and the paper at this end represents the drum of the ear, and this string represents the nerves. This string may be prolonged for a considerable distance, and if you were to connect the end of the string with another box of the same sort you would then have a telephone withwhich you would be able to hear quite plainly the words which are spoken by some other person at the opposite end of the string. When I speak into this box it makes the paper tremble, and that makes the string tremble, and if there were another box at the far end of the line it would cause the paper on the end of that box to tremble just the same, and that would cause the air to tremble where that box is, and if you were to hold your ear to that box you would be able to hear the words.

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