With the Children on Sunday Part 20

Copyrighted Sylva.n.u.s Stall]

You remember that there were ten plagues in Egypt; the first was the turning of the rivers into blood, then the bringing up of the frogs from all the rivers and lakes; and then the turning of the dust into lice; and then the plague of the flies; and then of the murrain which destroyed the cattle; and of the boils which came upon all the people; and of the lightning, and rain, and hail which destroyed man and beast.

Then the locusts came which ate up everything that remained; afterward the three days of continuous darkness; and after these nine plagues G.o.d had yet in store one great plague which He purposed to bring upon Pharaoh and his people. After each of these plagues which I have named, Pharaoh promised that he would let the Children of Israel go, but instead he hardened his heart and refused to keep his promise. At last G.o.d was going to bring upon him and his people the greatest plague of all. (Ex. xii: 1-28.)

G.o.d told Moses and Aaron to command the Children of Israel that on the tenth day of the month, each family should select either a lamb or a kid and shut it up until the fourteenth day, and in the evening of that day they should kill it. This was to be a male lamb, one year old, and without spot or blemish. The blood, as it flowed from the neck of the lamb, was to be caught in a dish, and with a bunch of hyssop the blood was to be sprinkled upon the door-posts or the door frame, both above and around the door, so that when the Angel of Death whom G.o.d purposed to send upon that eventful night, when he should pa.s.s throughout all the land of Egypt and see the blood upon the door posts and upon the lintel over the door he would pa.s.s by or "pa.s.s-over" these houses of the Israelites and would not smite their first-born with death; as would be the case in every other home of the Egyptians throughout all the land.

After the Children of Israel had sprinkled the blood upon the door-posts, they were to roast the entire lamb, and they were to eat it with unleavened bread, which was bread baked without yeast, and eat it also with bitter herbs, while at the same time their long, loose garments were to be tucked up under their belts which went around their waists, or as the people in those days would have said, with their loins girded. They were to have their shoes on their feet, and a cane or staff in their hand, so as to be all ready to start out upon their journey at any moment.

At midnight, after these Israelites had eaten this "Pa.s.sover" meal, and had also destroyed, by burning, any portions of the lamb which might remain, the Angel of Death pa.s.sed through all the land of Egypt and slew the first-born, the oldest in every house, where there was no blood sprinkled upon the door-posts.

As soon as the angel had pa.s.sed by, the people rushed out into the streets in terror and alarm, for in every home there was one or two or more persons lying dead. The Egyptians brought out their jewels and gold and valuables, and offered, not only to let the Israelites retain the jewels which they had already borrowed, but to give them more if they would only depart immediately, so that G.o.d should bring no further afflictions upon them. Pharaoh consented to their going, and immediately the Children of Israel started on their long journey to the Promised Land.

This eventful night was called, and is to this day called, "the night of the Pa.s.sover," and to this day the Jewish people still celebrate the Feast of the Pa.s.sover. It occurs in the spring of the year, and corresponds very closely to our Church festival day, known as Good Friday, at which time we commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ upon Calvary.

You will see from what I have said, how the lamb which was chosen was a figure of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of G.o.d, slain from the foundation of the world to take away your sins, and my sins, and the sins of all who would believe on Him. As this pa.s.sover lamb was a year old, without spot and without blemish, so Jesus Christ was perfect, without blemish, He never committed a sin of any kind; He was but thirty years old when He was crucified, and consequently was young in years.

As the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts and the lintels of the doors was the sign by which the Angel of the Lord was to know the homes of the Israelites, and deliver their first-born from death, so the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and delivers us from eternal death.

You and I and all mankind must die, but after this death of the body there comes either everlasting life or spiritual death. Now, when the spirit leaves the body, or is separated from these bodies, we speak of the body as being dead. The death of a person is just the same as when wheat is sown into the ground and is said to die; the life that formerly was in the seed only springs up into the stalk and grows into a new life and into a multiplied fruitfulness.

The life of each grain of wheat does not cease to exist, but is simply separated from the seed or grain which was sown in the ground, and lives in the new plant and new grain which springs up. So also when the life or the soul leaves the body, the body is dead, because it is separated from the soul. In like manner also, if the soul is separated from G.o.d, the Bible speaks of the individual as being spiritually dead, even while yet living in this world. Now, if because of sin any soul that is banished forever from G.o.d's presence, and is eternally separated from G.o.d in the next world, that eternal separation of the soul from G.o.d is spoken of in the Bible as eternal death.

From this eternal death you and I can only be delivered by the blood of the Son of G.o.d. Jesus Christ is our Pa.s.sover Lamb. Neither is He a dead, but a living Savior.

"He ever lives above, For me to intercede; His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead; His blood atoned for all our race, And sprinkles now the throne of grace."

QUESTIONS.--What was the tenth plague? How were the homes of the Israelites to be marked, so that the angel of death would pa.s.s over them? How old was the lamb to be that was to be slain? What was to be done with the body of the lamb? When they ate it, how were they to be clothed? (So as to be ready to start immediately upon their journey.) What did the angel of death do where the door posts were sprinkled with the blood? What was the event called? (The Pa.s.sover.) What people continue to celebrate the Feast of the Pa.s.sover today? Of whom was the slain lamb the symbol? What is Christ frequently called? From what does the blood of the Lamb of G.o.d save us?

PINE BRANCH.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

SUGGESTION:--The objects used are a green branch of a tree and a gla.s.s of clear water.

DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: Last Sunday I told you about the Feast of the Pa.s.sover, how it came to be inst.i.tuted, and what it signified. To-day I want to talk to you about the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of the Pa.s.sover occurred in the spring, nearly corresponding to our Easter; and at such times when the Israelites from every quarter of the land came up to Jerusalem, as was the custom at the three annual feasts, some provision had to be made for their entertainment.

At the Feast of the Pa.s.sover all the Jews living in Jerusalem had to throw open their homes, and entertain under the cover of their own roofs, all who came to them. They could not decline to receive the thousands of worshipers who came up to the Feast, but were required to afford them a place of shelter in their homes. Therefore it was that before the Feast of the Pa.s.sover Jesus sent two of His disciples, and told them to go into the city, and they would find a man bearing a pitcher of water; they should follow him and ask him to direct them to a room in his house, where Jesus might eat the Pa.s.sover with His disciples. (Matt. xxvi: 17; Mark xiv: 13.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Building Booths at Feast of Tabernacles.]

At the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred in the fall of the year, after the harvest and the fruit of the vines and the trees had all been gathered in, it was very different. At this Feast, when the Israelites came up to Jerusalem, not only those who came from a distance, but even those who lived regularly in the city, were required to tent or live in booths made by simply placing some poles in the ground, with other poles reaching across the top, so as to form a roof or covering. This roof was not shingled, but was formed by laying branches of trees upon the sticks which had been laid across from one pole to the other. (Neh. viii: 14, 15.)

You now see why to-day I have chosen this branch of a tree to show you in connection with this sermon. I have chosen this to impress upon your mind the character of the arbors used at the Feast of Tabernacles; the tops or roofs of which were formed or made of olive, and willow and pine, myrtle and palm branches. These booths or arbors were to remind the Children of Israel of the journey of their forefathers through the desert, when for forty long years they did not live within the walls or under the roof of any house, but dwelt only in booths.

I am sure that you and I would like to have looked in upon Jerusalem at the time when one of these Harvest Home festivals was being celebrated.

We would like to have seen the booths on the tops of the houses and along the side of the hills, outside of the walls of the city, and sloping down through the valleys and crowding far out into the country upon the Mount of Olives and beyond. We would like to have seen the bright faces of the happy throngs of people as they moved in procession through the streets, waving their palm branches; and to have listened to the music of the trumpeters of the Temple, as they sounded their trumpets twice every hour throughout the entire day. I am sure we would have been delighted to look down upon the festive crowd at night, when, instead of waving palm branches as they did during the day, they carried bright flaming torches, amid the clashing of cymbals and the blast of trumpets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "He Bore it Aloft as He Ascended the Stairs."]

This Feast lasted for eight days. The first day and the last were especially sacred. And now I want to call your attention to this second object which I have; namely, this water, and I want to tell you how it was related to and used at this Feast of Tabernacles. On the morning of each day, while the smoke of the morning sacrifice was ascending in beautiful wreaths in the still air, a priest bearing a large golden bowl, and followed by a long procession of boys and girls waving palm branches, descended the side of the hill to the pool of Siloam, which was in a quiet recess at the foot of Mount Moriah, on the summit of which the Temple was built. When the priest had filled the golden bowl with water from this clear pool, he held it above his head and bore it aloft as he ascended the stairs. As the procession entered the Court of the Temple, the trumpets sounded, and all the throngs of people gathered within its walls took up the words of the prophet and sang, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah xii: 3), and as the priest came to the base of the altar he poured the water from the golden bowl into a silver basin amid shouts and gladness. Upon the eighth day, "the last day, that great day of the feast" (John vii: 37), the joy was greater than upon any of the other days. The priests in glad procession moved around the altar seven times, singing the Psalms.

It was at the last Feast of Tabernacles which Jesus attended, that He stood in the midst of this glad a.s.sembly, and beheld their joy as they remembered how G.o.d had supplied their fathers with water in the wilderness; and how G.o.d had given them a land of streams, and rivers, and wells of water, and it was then when Jesus heard them crying "Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," that Jesus stood up in the midst of the Temple and of the people and said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John vii: 37.) To those of us who have always lived in the midst of a bountiful supply of fresh, clear, crystal water, these words are not as impressive as they were to the people to whom they were then spoken. For their land was surrounded by deserts, and they lived in the midst of nations whose people often famished and died, because there was not a sufficient supply of water to drink.

While we live in a country where there is always an abundant supply of water to satisfy the thirst of the body, yet spiritually, like these people at the Feast of Tabernacles we have the same spiritual needs that they had, and if you and I thirst for the water of life, if we desire everlasting salvation, if we thirst for the knowledge of sacred things and desire to do that which is right, Jesus invites you and me to come to Him, and says to us: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." (Isa. lv: 1.) "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink," (John vii: 37.) "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John iv: 14.)

QUESTIONS.--At what season of the year was the Feast of Tabernacles held? How long did it last?

In what did the people live or dwell during the Feast? Of what were the booths built? Why did they dwell in booths instead of in their houses at this time? Of what was all this to remind them? Which was the great day of the Feast? On this last day of the Feast what did the high priest bring from the well? By whom was the priest accompanied? Into what did he pour the water from the golden bowl?

Of what was this water the symbol? Does every human being thirst for or desire righteousness?

Did Jesus invite such to come to Him and drink?

Should we always go to Him to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst?

LEAVES.

THE LESSONS WHICH THEY TEACH.

SUGGESTION:--Objects: Some autumn leaves or green leaves of different varieties.

MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS: To-day I picked up these few beautiful leaves, which during the summer were lifted aloft on the trees and cast their grateful shadows upon the weary traveler as he journeyed under the scorching rays of the sun. But with the coming of autumn these leaves have faded, and the first frost of winter has tinged them with crimson and glory. I am sure we cannot look upon them without thinking of the words of the Prophet Isaiah, in the sixty-fourth chapter and sixth verse, where he says: "We all do fade as a leaf."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Autumn Leaves.]

I desire, however, to use these leaves to teach you not only this lesson, but also several others which they suggest.

If, during the summer, you go out into a forest and study the leaves, one of the first things which you will notice will be that the leaves which grow upon one kind of trees differ from the leaves which grow upon every other kind of trees. Indeed, if you pick up a leaf from the ground and examine it carefully you will find that the leaf is largely a picture of the tree upon which it grew. The shape of the leaf will correspond very largely with the shape of the tree from which it has fallen. If you study the leaf more carefully you will discover that the veins in the leaf will quite closely resemble the shape of the limbs of the tree. You would not be able to study the different leaves which you pick up without being impressed with the resemblance in many instances between the leaf and the tree upon which it grew.

Now, I think that we may learn a very profitable lesson from the leaves in this respect. I think that you will find, when you are able to study with a little closeness of observation, that the scholars of different Sunday-schools are different from each other, at least in some respects.

Those who come from the school where good order is maintained, where there are consecrated, devoted teachers who give themselves carefully to the preparation of the lesson, secure the attention of their scholars, impress the truth deeply upon the minds, and hearts and consciences--you will find that the scholars of this school become attentive and orderly, and well behaved, and all the scholars in the school partake of the influences which are exerted over them from Sunday to Sunday. The scholars who attend a school where the superintendent does not keep good order, where the teachers are irregular and disinterested, and where everything is permitted to go along as by mere chance, these scholars will partake of the influence of the school, and will individually become like the school. So you see how important it is that each and every scholar should be attentive and thoughtful, and give the very largest amount of help possible to the superintendent and teachers to render the school orderly, and to encourage the teachers who desire to devote themselves to the teaching of Bible truth and the impressing of the spiritual lessons, so that those who are under their influence may be brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ.

What I have said with reference to the Sunday-school is also true with reference to the Church. There is an old saying, that "like priest, like people." When a pastor continues for a long period of years in the same pulpit, ministering to the same people, if he has their sympathy, co-operation and a.s.sistance the people will become very much like each other in their spiritual character, and all will become more and more like the pastor and his teachings. If he is G.o.dly, and consecrated, and upright, his people will become increasingly so. And you will find not only that each scholar becomes a miniature of the Sunday-school which he attends, but each Christian becomes a miniature of the congregation of which he is a member.

But the leaves teach us another lesson. The great trees which you see in the forest are the result of the united efforts and labors of the leaves. Each leaf is gifted with individual power, and together they all drink in the influence of the sunlight and the showers, and unitedly they build up the great oaks and elms and poplars, and all the trees of the fields and forest. The coal, which is now dug from the mines, was once a great tropical growth of forest trees which were afterwards buried by some great convulsion in nature, and now when we dig up the coal and burn it in our stoves we are simply releasing the buried sunshine which was acc.u.mulated and stored up by the individual leaves of the great forests of centuries ago.

As we look upon the leaves of the trees I think we must be impressed with the fact, that each one labors in his own appointed place. There is no conflict, there is no crowding of one, thinking to exalt himself above the others. There are no little parties of leaves joining together and trying to crowd themselves to the top of the tree, but each and all work faithfully and zealously in the place which G.o.d has appointed them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Budding of the New Leaf.]

They are not only faithful workers, but they are unselfish workers. No leaf can have the joy which belongs to another, or the glory of all the leaves. Each leaf has the reward of doing a little, and when its work is done it must drop to the ground and perish in the dust. The work which it has done and the tree which it has helped to build will be its monument and reward. If each leaf gives its life faithfully for the building up of the tree, no leaf can fall to the ground or be shaken from its place by the autumn wind and perish in despair.

If you will go into the forest at the autumn period of the year, or go into the orchard and examine where the leaves are about to drop off, you will find that at the base of the stem of each leaf, already there appears the budding of the leaf which is to be unfolded next spring, and even though the leaf withers and falls to the ground, leaving the barren limb alone to battle with the winter storms, yet there is the promise and the evidence that when the gentle breath of spring shall come and break open the icy sepulchres of the winter, these little buds will feel the genial warmth and unfold their green beauty in a radiant springtime of beautiful foliage. So one generation of men may die and pa.s.s away, to have their work continued and completed by those who are to come after them.

But these leaves also teach us of our mortality. For, as Isaiah says, "We all do fade as a leaf." We are all very apt to forget that we must die. And so each year, when the summer is over and the fruit is gathered, the leaves begin to wither, and the early frost tinges the forests of the closing year, like the sun oftentimes makes the clouds all crimson and glory at the close of the day. These things should teach us that as advancing years come, we also must fade and die. G.o.d spreads out before us this great panorama along the valleys and on the hillsides each autumn to teach us that as the leaves perish, so we must also fade and droop and die.