LANTERNS.

Questions.—What does Christ call Himself? What is the source of the light of the natural world? Does the sun shine by its own light? Does the moon shine by its own light, or does it reflect the light of the sun? What is the source of light displayed when coal and wood and other substances are burned? Does all natural light come from the sun? Who is the source of our spiritual light and knowledge? Are the Church and Christian people lights in the world? Do they shine of their own goodness like the sun, or are they like the moon in that they reflect the divine light? Does any person have the power in himself to be good? Where does this power to be good come from? Does Christ want us to shine as lights in the world? Are we to let our lights shine to glorify ourselves, or to glorify Christ?

Coal and wood

Suggestions:—A lantern of any kind may be used. If one of the old-fashioned tin lanterns, perforated with holes through which the light was to shine, is available it would add greatly to the curiosity and interest of the children, although these are now very rare, as they were in use a half century ago.After "driving to church", and after preaching by the children and the reading of the following sermon on lanterns, a few Japanese lanterns—one for each of the children—would enable the parents to form a little torch-light procession (although no lighted candles need be in the lanterns). After marching through the different rooms, give the children a talk upon the conditions existing in heathen lands like China and Japan, and the changes which are being wrought through the introduction of Christianity and the work of the missionaries.

After "driving to church", and after preaching by the children and the reading of the following sermon on lanterns, a few Japanese lanterns—one for each of the children—would enable the parents to form a little torch-light procession (although no lighted candles need be in the lanterns). After marching through the different rooms, give the children a talk upon the conditions existing in heathen lands like China and Japan, and the changes which are being wrought through the introduction of Christianity and the work of the missionaries.

Old Lantern.Old Lantern.

I DO not believe that there is a boy or girl here to-day who could tell me what this thing is, that I hold in my hand. It is a lantern, a very different lantern possibly, from those which any of you have ever seen. This is the kind of lantern that your grandfather and my grandfather used many years ago, in the days when they did not have lamps, and gas, and electric lights, and such things as we enjoy to-day. When I was a small boy in the country we used to have only candles. Later on in life, Iremember when they first had fluid lamps, and then kerosene oil, and then gas, and then, as we have it now, electric lights.

In the second congregation to which I ministered, there was an old gentleman who had one of these lanterns. He lived some distance from the church, and very dark nights you could always see him coming across the hill, carrying this strange lantern. After the candle was lighted and placed inside, the light shone out through these small holes, and if the wind blew very hard, the light was liable to be blown out.

Now, here is a better lantern. David says of God's Word, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." On a dark night in the country, you could not go out of doors and move about without running up against a tree, or the fence, or falling into the ditch, or soon finding yourself involved in serious difficulties; and on this account people in the country carry a lantern at night. In the Eastern countries where Jesus lived, where they did not have gas and electric lamps to light the streets, when people went out at night they always carried a lantern. And so David said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Ps. cxix: 105.)

"Coming Across the Hill Carrying this Strange Lantern.""Coming Across the Hill Carrying this Strange Lantern."

When people go out of doors into the darkness with a lantern they do not hold it way up high, but hold it down near their feet, so that they can see the path, and it enables them to walk with security and safety. Sometimes there are men who have gone to college, and have learned Latin and Greek, have studied the sciences and philosophy, and they think they have learned a very great deal. Perhaps afterwards they have studied medicine and become physicians, or have read law and become lawyers, and they think that they are able with all they know to find the true path of blessing through life. They think they have light enough of themselves. They do not seem to know that all about them there is a darkness of great mystery; that sin and death and destruction lurk all alongtheir way through life, and that their pathway is full of snares, and pitfalls, and dangers, but they try to walk with the little light that there is in the human understanding.

There is another class of men who go through college and who may, perchance, study much, and the more they study the more they come to realize how little they know, and how much there is beyond them that they do not understand at all. With the little light of human understanding they comprehend how very dense and dark are the mysteries all about them, and so in order that they may walk safely through life, and come at last to the city of eternal safety, they take God's Word "as a lamp to their feet." Just the same as a person in the country carries a lamp in order that he may find his path, so these good people take the Word of God and they make it the lamp unto their feet, and the light unto their path.

Boys and girls often look at learned men and women and think that when they get to be as old and to know as much as these people, that then they will know everything. But that is a great mistake. The more we know and the more learned we are, the more we discover that there is still further beyond us that which we do not understand. No one has ever been able to tell how the bread and the meat and potatoes and other food which we eat is made to sustain our life, how it is converted into and made a part of ourselves. How on our heads these things become, or are changed into hair, on the ends of our fingers to nails, and how other parts become flesh, and bone and eyes and ears and teeth. Nobody can understand how the ground in the garden can be changed by some life principle into fruit and vegetables and flowers and hundreds of different things, and yet all this wonderful variety, all growing out of the very same soil, or ground as we call it.

And so as you grow older and become more and more learned you will come more and more to appreciate how much there is thatyou can never understand. There is mystery all about us, and we all need the light of divine truth, the light of God's Word, the Bible as a light to guide us through the darkness and the mysteries that are all about us.

If you have ever been in the country upon a dark night and have seen the railway engine come dashing along, with the great headlight that throws the rays of light far down along the track enabling the engineer to see very far ahead of him, you would understand what the Bible purposes to do for us, when God says that He will make it a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.

As you grow older, and sorrow and sickness and trials come to you, you will need God's Word to be a lamp unto your feet. And when at last the messenger of death shall come and summon you into God's presence, and you go through "the valley of the shadow of death," you will then need this lamp for your feet, and you will need the Lord Jesus Christ with you, that you may lean upon Him and that you may say as David did: "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." May God give you this light through the journey of this life, and bring you to that city of light and life on high.

Questions.—Why did the people of the East carry lanterns at night? What did David call the Bible? Should the lantern be held above the head, or down near the feet? Which is the best light to our spiritual pathway, human wisdom or Divine revelation? Which is the safer light for us to follow, books which men write, or the book which God has given us? Can we understand all that we find in the book of nature? Can we understand all that we find in the book of revelation? Do they both have the same author? Is God infinitely greater than man? Does this explain to you why we cannot understand all that God has done or said? Can we put a bushel basket into a quart measure?—the smaller can not contain the larger.

Suggestions:—A candle, a silver dollar, a large-necked bottle and a flask-shaped bottle are the objects used. It will add to the interest of the children if the parent will show the simple experiments of placing the bottle over the candle to illustrate how quickly the light is extinguished as the oxygen is exhausted. The same is the result when a light is hid under a bushel. The flame may also be concealed by the dollar; and in a darkened room a polished piece of metal or a small looking-glass will show how the light can be reflected by money properly used in Christ's cause.

MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: To-day I have brought some candles in order to illustrate the text, "Ye are the light of the world." In a previous sermon I have shown you how all the light in the world is derived from the sun, and how all the light in the spiritual world is derived from Jesus Christ. Now, to-day I want to show you that we can extinguish this light. While we cannot prevent the sun from shining, or put out the light there is in the sun, yet we can extinguish, or put out the light of a candle. We can blow out the light, we can turn off the gas, we can cut off the electrical current, and thus prevent the carbon from burning and giving light. Just the same as the firemen can extinguish a large fire that is making a great blaze in the midst of a dark night, so we can put out these several lights.

Before this candle, which I hold in my hand, can be of any service to me in giving light, it must first itself be lighted. So it is with every person who is born into this world. He has no light in himself. Before ever he can exert any influence for good uponothers, or let any Christian light shine, he must come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive this light. He must be lighted from above. But now after the candle has been lighted, suppose that I take this silver dollar which I hold in my hand, and place it in front of the light, you will see immediately how it makes it impossible for the light to shine out in front of the dollar. Those who are sitting down there in front of me cannot see this light. The light is entirely concealed by the dollar. So some people allow the love of money to gather around their hearts, until at last their money is placed between them and the people whom God intends that they should benefit and bless in this world. Instead of being a help, their money is only a hindrance to their Christian life. They love their money so much that they permit the poor to go hungry, the destitute to be unblessed, and the Church to be without the money necessary to carry on its work. They allow the heathen to die in their ignorance. Selfishly grasping their money, they neglect to do that for which God has given them the means and the money.

Light Obscured by Money.Light Obscured by Money.

I believe that money is a good thing. The Bible says that it is theloveof money, the undue love of it, that is the root of all evil. Money itself is a blessing and not a curse; therefore I want to show you how this dollar can be made to help in making this light shine even more brightly. You will see that if I have this side of the dollar ground off and polished, so that it is very smooth and bright like a little looking-glass, and then place it back of the candle,instead of acting as it did when I placed the dollar between you and the candle, it will then reflect the light and throw the rays of light out further than they could otherwise shine. It helps to accomplish for the candle the same important service which the great reflector does when placed behind the lamp in the headlight of the railway engine, throwing the light way down the track in advance of the coming of the train.

In the same way, when a Christian has money, you see how he can readily use it in such a way as to enable him to accomplish a very great and grand work in the world. The man who has lots of money and has a consecrated heart, and who is willing to use his money to help him in his work for Christ, will be able to accomplish very much more than the man who has no money. He can use his money in such a way that it will enable him to cast a light in many a dark corner of the earth, to bring light in many a desolate home, and to cast the rays of his Christian influence even across the ocean into benighted heathen lands. In this way his money can be used as I could use this dollar if it were polished, and thus carry his influence to the ends of the earth and to the end of time, and become a great blessing to himself and to others for all eternity.

Money as a Reflector.Money as a Reflector.

Jesus said, "Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle-stick that it may give light to all that are in the house." There are some people who do not like to let their lightshine for Christ. They do not want others to know that they are Christians. They do not want others to know that they are trying to be good. And so they seek to conceal their light, to hide it, as Jesus says, "under a bushel." If you were to light a candle and put it under a bushel, or under a box, the box would prevent it from shining, and therefore you would not know that there was any light at all in the room.

But I want to show you, by the aid of this large necked bottle, what is the effect of our trying to hide our light. I have chosen this bottle because you can see through it, and observe what is going on inside of this glass bushel or bottle. The neck being very large, you can readily see that the light is not absolutely smothered. Now, when I place this bottle over the light, you will see how very quickly it begins to grow dim, and then more dim until it dies out altogether. There, you see, it has gone out already! Just as quickly as it burns out from the air in the bottle the oxygen which it contains, the light dies, because it has nothing to feed upon. If I had not placed this bottle over it, it would have continued to burn.

Light Under a Bushel.Light Under a Bushel.

Just so it is with those who try to hide their light under a bushel. After the light has been placed there, it gradually grows more faint, and more faint, and then goes out in darkness. You can never be a Christian if you are ashamed of Christ. You must be willing to let your light shine; you must be willing to confess Christbefore men; you must be willing to have other boys and girls know that you are a Christian, and that you are trying to do right. Then with God's help you will succeed. But if you try to hide your light under a bushel, you will never succeed in being a Christian.

Here is another bottle. I am sure that the shape of this bottle will suggest to you the kind of stuff which is oftentimes sold in this kind of a flask. Sometimes when young men have given their hearts to Christ, and young women too for that matter, they go out in company and are invited to take a drink of wine or a drink of beer, or something else, and without any purpose or thought of ever becoming a drunkard, often they soon form the habit of drinking. Soon they have formed a love for the taste of liquor, and before ever they know it, like hundreds of thousands of others who have preceded them, they have become fond of liquor, and are on a fair road to become drunkards. As soon as a young man starts out in this direction he takes the road that leads down to death and destruction, and the love of God which he had in his heart soon dies out. Let me place this bottle over the candle. You will now see how the candle begins to grow dim, and the light shines more and more dim, after a very few seconds, you will find that it goes out in darkness, the same as it did under the other bottle.

A Dangerous Bottle.A Dangerous Bottle.

Let me say to you, always carefully avoid the terrible and destructive influences of drink, of which this bottle is the symbol. If you want to keep the love of God in your heart you must never,never take the first step which leads toward the love of liquor, toward intemperance and a drunkard's grave.

Questions.—Can an unlighted candle give light? Can a candle light itself? Who must first give us the light if we are to be a light to the world? Can the light of the candle shine through a silver dollar? If a silver dollar is polished like a little looking-glass and placed behind the light, what does it do? Does this suggest how we can use our money to send the light to the heathen? Under what kind of a measure does the Bible warn against hiding our light? When people light a candle, do they put it under a bushel or on a candlestick? If it is put under a bushel what is the result? Is that the result with people who are ashamed to be known as Christians? Does intoxicating drink often put out the light of Christian people? How can all persons avoid the use of liquor? (By never taking the first glass.)

Bible and candle

Suggestion:—A chain of any kind, even a watch chain, will answer. Children could use paste-board and cut out ten links to represent the Ten Commandments. These links could be numbered and the older children could be asked to repeat the Ten Commandments in their order.

A Broken Chain.A Broken Chain.

MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: I have here a chain; it is very strong indeed. It has ten links in it. You will remember how that, more than three thousand years ago, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. These Ten Commandments are often called the Decalogue, because there are ten of them; the Greek worddekameans ten.

Now the Bible tells us that "whosoever will keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James ii:10.)

"Suspended Over the Edge of a Great Rock.""Suspended Over the Edge of a Great Rock."

When a boy, I often wondered how it was that when a person broke one of the Commandments he was guilty of breaking the whole law. I could not understand it. Now, I desire to illustrate this truth to you to-day. Suppose that I were suspended over the edge of a great rock by this chain. If the chain should break, I would be plunged headlong, hundreds of feet down a very greatembankment, upon rocks at the bottom of the chasm, and lose my life. You will readily see that it would not be necessary to break every link in this chain before I would begin to fall. In order to break this chain, it is only necessary to break a single link. The moment one link breaks, the entire continuity of the chain is broken.

I think you will see that it is just the same way with the law of God. If you break one of these Commandments, you have broken the law. If you fail to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," or if you disobey your parents, and thus break the Commandment which says, "honor thy father and thy mother," or any other of the Commandments—if you break a single one, you have broken the entire chain of the Ten Commandments.

Now, there are a great many laws in this land of ours. There are laws against murder, and there are laws against stealing, and there are laws against getting drunk, and thousands of other laws. If a man simply steals and should be caught in the act and brought before the judge, he would be convicted of the crime and be sent to prison. It is not necessary that a man should be a murderer and a thief and a robber, and should be guilty of breaking all the laws of this land, before he is cast in prison. It is simply enough that he should have violated one law. By breaking only one law he becomes a criminal, and therefore he is cast into prison. The man who has committed but one murder has his entire liberty taken from him. The man who has been caught in the act of stealing but a single time is adjudged a thief, and all his liberty is taken from him.

So I think you will see that, in order to become a criminal, it is not necessary that we should break all the laws of the land, but if we break a single law we become criminals. So it is with the law of God; if we break only one of the Ten Commandments we are criminals before God, we are guilty of all.

Now the laws which men make in this and every other countryare human laws. They are not absolutely perfect. They are changed and improved from time to time. But the Psalmist tells us, and we all know it to be true, that "The law of the Lord is perfect," and God requires us to keep His law. He says, "My son forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments; for length of days and long life and peace, shall they add to thee." (Prov. iii:1.) If you and I are faithful in the keeping of God's law, then we can say like David, "I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all of thy commandments." (Psalm cxix:6.)

Now, if I take this chain, and attempt to break it, I find that God has not given me sufficient strength. Samson could have snapped it in a moment, but I am not strong enough. God has given to some men much more strength than to others.

If I were to pull very hard on this chain so as to break it, where do you suppose it would break first? Why the weakest link in the entire chain would be the first to break. No chain is stronger than its weakest link. So it is with you and with me, our greatest goodness is no greater than our greatest weakness. When men want to think how good they are, they think of the best things they have ever done. But the fact is that no man is better than the worst things he has ever done. A man who has committed murder is a murderer. He might have done hundreds of good things, but the law does not estimate him by the best things he has done. The law estimates that man by the worst thing he has done, and by that worst thing he is judged and condemned. And so it is with you and me before God. The worst things which we have ever done will be the things which will condemn us in the sight of the Judge of all the world.

While I am not able to break this metal chain, yet God has made it possible for every person to break the chain of the moral law. God has given human freedom to all men; He has told uswhat we should do, but He has left us free to obey or to disobey.

Now, when we examine into the requirements of the Ten Commandments, we find that everybody has violated some one or more of them at some time. There is not a man or woman or child any where who is not guilty of having broken God's law. And when I turn to the Scriptures, I find in Galatians the third chapter, 10th verse, that God says, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." I see then by God's Word that we are all sinners, that we are all guilty before God, because we have violated His law, and next Sunday I will tell you what is to be done in view of the fact that we are all guilty before God.

Questions.—What are the different parts of a chain called? How many links must be broken in order to break the chain? What did God give to Moses on Mount Sinai? How many commandments are there? Who makes the laws for the nation, the state and the city? Are laws perfect which are made by men? Do human laws change? Is God's law perfect? Do moral laws ever change? Was there ever a time or a place where it was right to lie, or steal or murder? Will there ever be such a time or place? How many murders must a man commit before he is a murderer? How often must he steal before he is a thief? Are men put into prison for breaking a single law? Is the entirety of God's law violated if we break only one commandment?

Ten Commandments and chain

Suggestion:—The object used is a looking-glass of any desired size.

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: In my sermon last Sunday, I showed you that God had made the law perfect, but that none of us has perfectly kept the law, that we have all broken the law, and God has said, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Gal. iii:10.)

If the law is perfect, and no one has ever kept it perfectly, but all have broken the law in some one way or another, and on that account all are guilty before God, you may ask, what is the purpose of the law? Why did God make the law? Now, I desire to explain that to you to-day.

I have here a looking-glass. Now the Bible compares the law to a looking-glass. In the epistle or letter of James, in the first chapter, we are told, "If any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James i:23-25.)

In other words, the Bible means to say that the law of God is like a looking-glass. When we read the law of God, we see just what God requires that we should both be and do. He enablesus to see what He requires of us. It shows us also how imperfect we are. It shows us our sins. It reveals to us the importance of doing something in order to get rid of our sins.

It is just like a man whose face is all dirty. When he goes to the looking-glass and looks into it he sees the dirt upon his face. If he did not look into the glass, other people might see that his face was dirty, but he would not see it himself. But when he looks into the glass, he sees for himself that his face is all black and dirty.

Now, when the man finds that his face is all dirty, he does not take the looking-glass with which to wash his face. The looking-glass was not made to wash our faces with. It was only made to show us that our faces needed to be washed. And then, instead of using the looking-glass to wash our faces, we go and use soap and water.

Now, the looking-glass did not make the man's face black, neither will it wash his face. It simply shows him that his face is dirty.

So it is with the law of God. The law of God does not make us sinful. We are sinful, whether there be any law or not. The law is simply designed to show us that we are sinners, and that we are wicked, and that we need a Saviour. And when this law reveals to us our sin, and shows us our need of a Saviour, it purposes, as we are told in the Scriptures, to lead us to Christ (Galatians iii:24.) No man can cleanse or wash away his sins by the aid of the law. But the law plainly shows him his sins, and then leads him to Christ—to the fountain which has been opened for sin and uncleanness. It is all very beautifully expressed in that hymn which, I trust, you all know:

"There is a fountain filled with blood,Drawn from Immanuel's veins;And sinners plunged beneath that flood,Lose all their guilty stains."

Now, I want to tell you the effect of coming to this fountain and washing. When we come to Christ our sins and guilt are washed away, and we become more like Christ. And then we grow up into His likeness and into His image. (Eph. iv: 13.) We become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ from day to day. This change which takes place in our hearts and in our lives is very wonderful. We cannot understand it, but we cease to be intentionally wicked. More and more we become holy. It is this wonderful change which is referred to in Second Corinthians, third chapter and the 18th verse, where it says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

I think now, you will understand why we have the law. It is not to make us wicked, for we are wicked already. But it is to show us our wickedness, it is to reveal to us the fact that we are sinners, and that we are lost and undone without a Saviour. And then it reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and we come to Him, the same as men with blackened faces go to the fountain to wash. So we come with our sins and our guilt "to the fountain which has been opened for sin and uncleanness," and we wash all our sins and guilt away; and then we are changed into His image and into His likeness, from glory to glory, until at last, in the world on high, we awake in the likeness of Jesus.

Questions.—To what does the Bible compare the law of God? For what purpose do people use a looking-glass? What does a man whose face is dirty see in the glass? What does it show that his face needs? Does it suggest that he should wash his face with the looking-glass? What does he use with which to wash his face? What does God's law show us? Does the law make us sinful? Can the law remove the effects of sin? Who is the fountain for the cleansing of our sin? Are we saved by the law, or by the grace of God?

Suggestion:—A bottle partly filled with dust from the roadway will help to illustrate the condition which would quite universally prevail if the earth were not refreshed with frequent rains.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: In view of the fact that the weather is so very warm, the earth so dried and parched and we have had no rain for a period of weeks, I thought it might be useful to-day to consider what would be the result if God should withhold the rain altogether, and then to tell you how, or in what manner God brings us the rain and refreshes the earth and makes it fruitful.

In order that you might see something of the present condition of the earth, I have brought in this bottle some dust, taken from the centre of the road. As I turn the bottle around, you see how dry it is and how it floats in the air, leaving the inside of this bottle all powdered with dust. The dust in this bottle is only a sample of what all the earth would soon become, if God did not send rain at frequent intervals throughout the year. I suppose you could all tell me of a number of instances in the Old Testament where we have accounts of drouths that extended throughout a period of years, and of the hunger and famine and death which followed.

When you are out of doors and look about you, you cannot but be impressed with how dry and dusty the trees and grass and everything about you is. If this dry weather were to continue long you could understand that soon everything would wither and die,and if it were to continue for a few years, men and beasts would not only die of thirst, but even the air itself would suck out from our bodies the moisture that is in our blood, and death would speedily follow. But if you were to remove all the moisture from the air, the earth would not only become barren, but it would become intensely cold. It is due to the moisture which is in the atmosphere that the warmth which comes to the earth from the sun is retained near the earth after the sun has gone down. If it were not so, even in a summer's night after the sun has gone down, the coldness which exists above the clouds would quickly come in contact with the earth, and the cold would become so intense that every person and every living thing would be in danger of being frozen to death in a single night.

You will remember that the great Sahara Desert is a vast tract of thousands of square miles where no rain falls, and where the heat is intense. There is, however, much moisture in the air that floats over the plains, but the reason that no rain falls is because there are no mountains in that portion of the globe for thousands of miles.

Now suppose that there were to be no rain at all, and people should undertake to water the earth by bringing the water from the rivers. On an average of about thirty-three inches of rain fall upon the surface of the entire earth each year, in some places more, in others less. The weight of this water in one single square mile would be nearly two and one-half millions of tons, and if this water which falls upon one single square mile had to be drawn in cars, it would require 100,000 carloads of water to keep this one single mile as wet as God usually keeps it throughout the year by the rain from heaven. I think you will see, from what I have said, that all the cars in the entire United States, and there are hundreds of thousands of them, would not be sufficient to haul water fromthe rivers for any considerable distance to keep more than ten miles square of earth watered. But you can also see that if all these cars were to be run on a piece of ground only ten miles square, that entire piece of ground would be almost completely covered with railroad tracks, and we would scarcely be able to raise anything on it in the way of grain or vegetables or food of any kind. But even if we could successfully water ten miles square of land, what would that be compared with the absolute necessity of watering the entire continent and all the continents of the globe in order to make life possible upon the earth. Now the question arises, how does God accomplish this great result?

Train of Cars.Train of Cars.

I suppose you have all noticed the teakettle when it is upon the stove and the steam is coming out of the spout, and around the lid. You have there had a practical demonstration of how God can cause the water, which is 800 times heavier than the atmosphere or the air, to rise and float, for you know that any substance heavier than air will always fall to the earth. In the instance of the teakettle you will see how heat causes the water to become steam and thus to rise in the air and float away, rising to the heightof the clouds which float two, three and four and sometimes more miles high above the earth.

Now, just in this same way God makes the heat from the rays of the sun to cause that from every river and lake and all the expanse of the ocean, as well as from the surface of the earth, there shall constantly arise a very fine vapor, which, although it is somewhat like steam, is still so much finer that you and I cannot see it with our unaided eyes. It is by means of this vapor that God raises the moisture from the oceans and all bodies of water and from the earth, to fall again in gentle showers.

Steam Rising from Teakettle.Steam Rising from Teakettle.

But when this vapor has been lifted up from the ocean, you will see readily that if it were to descend again in rain upon the very places from which it had been lifted it would accomplish no good. It is necessary that instead of falling back into the ocean and into the lakes and rivers, it must be carried over the land. So you see that we might aptly compare the vapor to a great pump, by means of which God lifts millions of gallons of water every hour from the sea into the atmosphere.

Now just the same as men load grain and fruit and other things into the cars to ship them to some distant place, so God loads these vapors into the atmosphere or into the clouds. When the clouds are all loaded with vapor, or that which is to descend upon the earth in the form of rain, God sends the winds, and these winds blow the clouds from over the ocean far inward over theland until they come to the place where God wants to pour them out in showers and rain, and in snow and blessing.

Clouds and Rain.Clouds and Rain.

But now, you will see that there is another difficulty. When all this vast quantity of water is held in the clouds, a mile or two above the earth, if it were to be poured out, it would come with such force upon the earth that it would destroy every living thing. Now, as God used the warmth from the sun as His agent to lift the water into the clouds, so also, when He desires to unload the clouds, to pour the rain upon the earth, He causes the warm air which carries the water to be blown upon by the colder air which floats above it,and as the heat lifted the water, so the cold causes it to descend; and immediately it begins to form as clouds, one particle or atom of moisture touches another, and the two form the larger atom, and these again unite with others, until finally a drop is formed, and it begins to descend and comes down in gentle showers upon the earth as though it were sifted through a very fine sieve. These small drops fall upon the earth so gently as not even to bruise the leaf of the tenderest flower or the tenderest insect that walks upon the earth.

Possibly some children may not fully understand, but the older ones will get some idea of the vast quantity of water which God pours upon the earth, when they are reminded that all the water that flows in the rivers has been let down from the clouds. God is daily pumping up from the ocean and other bodies of water rivers as vast as the combined waters of the Mississippi, Missouri, Susquehanna, the Hudson, and every creek and streamlet and river that flows, not only on this continent, but in all the world. And God is doing this constantly by His own infinite wisdom and infinite might. The machinery with which men pump the water from the river for the supply of a single city wears out; but these great engines with which God is constantly keeping the earth supplied with water for man and beast, for tree and flower, for garden and field, never wear out. Truly with the prophet we may exclaim: "He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land: the Lord is His name." (Amos v: 8.)

From what I have said I think you will all see how constantly we are dependent upon God for everything which we enjoy. If God were to withhold the rain or the sunshine, famine and want and death would soon follow. Yet in the most wonderful way God is constantly providing that with which we are daily to be fedand always to be clothed. God 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.

God never forgets us, but I fear that we often forget Him and forget when we drink the refreshing glass of clear, cool water, that it is God who gave it to us. When you sit down at the table, do you remember that it is God 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 God 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, God's great enemy?

These are serious questions, and I trust you will think seriously of them, and daily, when you receive God'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 God accomplish this? How is the water raised up from the sea and the rivers? Can you explain it by the teakettle? Where does God 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 God do all things wisely and well? Is God ever unmindful of our needs? Do you ever forget to thank Him? Do you always remember to serve Him?

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: When God desired to set Job to thinking, among other questions He asked him: Canst thou enter into the treasures of the snow? (Job xxxviii: 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 God 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 God? Now like everything else which comes from God, 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, onone 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 space 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 God has made, the snow is very beautiful. Did you ever hear that poem which begins:

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