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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16763-h.zip b/16763-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef9d638 --- /dev/null +++ b/16763-h.zip diff --git a/16763-h/16763-h.htm b/16763-h/16763-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d80344 --- /dev/null +++ b/16763-h/16763-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5086 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Say Fellows--", by Wade C. Smith</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + + p.citation5 {text-align: right; + margin-right: 5%;} + + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +ol.TOC {position: relative; + width: 55%;} +span.ralign {position: absolute; right: 25%; top: auto;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook,<br /> + "Say Fellows--", by Wade C. Smith</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: "Say Fellows--"</p> +<p> Fifty Practical Talks with Boys on Life's Big Issues</p> +<p>Author: Wade C. Smith</p> +<p>Release Date: September 27, 2005 [eBook #16763]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "SAY FELLOWS--"***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Diane Monico,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>"Say, Fellows—"</h1> + + +<h3>Fifty Practical Talks with<br /> +Boys On Life's Big Issues</h3> + +<h3>By</h3> +<h2>WADE C. SMITH</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of "The Little Jetts Telling<br /> +Bible Stories"</i></p> + +<p class="figcenter" style="width: 58px;"> +<img src="images/image001.png" width="58" height="109" alt="" title="" /> +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">New York Chicago<br /></span> +Fleming H. Revell Company<br /> +<span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh</span><br /> +<br /> +1921 +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> +<p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></p><p class="center"> +Adapted from the Author's weekly Sunday School<br /> +Lesson Treatments in <i>The Sunday School Times</i>,<br /> +by permission of the Editors.<br /> +<br /> +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue<br /> +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.<br /> +London: 21 Paternoster Square<br /> +Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"> +<i>Dedicated to<br /><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a> +<br /> +her whose instruction and example<br /> +first inspired in me the purposes<br /> +and ideals which make for patience,<br /> +courage, endurance and faith—<br /> +<br /> +MY MOTHER</i><br /> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h2> + + +<p>"My teacher told me to write a composition on the last picture I +looked at," said Henry, a sixth grader, when he came in from school +the other day. "I had seen a picture of a fire engine," he added, "so +I wrote:</p> + +<p>"'With a clatter of hoofs and a whirr of wheels, the fire engine +dashed around the corner. The driver was crouched low in the seat. He +was driving like Jehu.'</p> + +<p>"But I could not spell Jehu, so I went to my teacher and asked, +'Please, how do you spell Jehu?'</p> + +<p>"'Spell what, Henry?'</p> + +<p>"'Jehu.'</p> + +<p>"'What in the world are you trying to say, boy?'</p> + +<p>"'I am trying to tell how fast a fire engine driver goes—as fast as a +chariot driver in the time of King David, I think it was.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, Henry, I think you had better say the engine driver drove as +fast as an ancient charioteer.'"</p> + +<p>"And did you?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I said, 'he was driving like mad.'"</p> + +<p>It is plain that this grammar-school teacher had never heard of the +Bible character who had interested her pupil, but the author of this +book knows how to spell "Jehu" to a questioning boy, or to a "gang" of +boys, or to a Sunday-school class of boys.</p> + +<p>Is there any boy who does not have a motor in his <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>mind? A writer of a +method article in a recent issue of <i>The Sunday School Times</i> related +an incident of a chap whom he described as "a motor-minded boy." He +said that he was sitting on top of a school desk at recess, kicking +back with his heels, and when asked what he was thinking about, +replied: "I was wondering, if my legs were horses, how fast they would +go!"</p> + +<p>It was with a realization of the fact that when a class of +Sunday-school boys assembles, their instinct is of one accord to turn +their legs into horses and to drive them as Jehu drove his pair of +Arabs, that our paper requested Wade Smith to take charge of its +Lesson Help for boys' classes. The management realized the truth of +the statement of Dr. Walter W. Moore, President of Union Theological +Seminary at Richmond, Va., when he said that Mr. Smith was the most +versatile man whom he ever knew.</p> + +<p>Although Mr. Smith was already contributing to its columns "The Little +Jetts Teaching the Sunday-school Lesson," he was asked also to +undertake the difficult but important task of writing the lessons for +teachers of, and students in, boys' classes. His highly acceptable +performance of this work is but another evidence of his versatility.</p> + +<p>Out of his own richly eventful and happy boyhood, as well as his +experience as a Christian father and a lifelong student of boys, small +and grown up, Mr. Smith wrote the chapters of this book. They appeared +week by week under the title of "Say, Fellows—" Letters from our +readers have testified to their helpfulness. The writer of this +Introduction teaches two Sunday-school classes—one composed of <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>his +two boys in their home preparation for Sunday school, and the other an +Adult Men's class in the church to which he belongs. When his own boys +have finished studying their lesson in their Quarterlies, they almost +invariably come to their father and say, "Now read us what Mr. Smith +says, and then we will be ready for the lesson."</p> + +<p>On two occasions I recall introducing the lesson to my adult class by +recounting Mr. Smith's striking stories out of his own experience +about the boy who was drowned and restored to life, illustrating the +Resurrection Lesson (See <a href="#Page_60">page 60</a>), and of his first and last deer hunt +(See <a href="#Page_76">page 76</a>), and both times the attention of the men was gripped in +an unusual way by these remarkable incidents. No doubt, hundreds of +teachers have had similar experiences in making use of Mr. Smith's +illustrations.</p> + +<p>So great has been the helpfulness of the "Say, Fellows—" lessons that +the demand has come for their publication in the delightful book form +in which they now appear. In expressing my own pleasure that these +lesson treatments, having served their immediate purpose, are now to +be rescued from yellowing files and preserved under the covers of a +book, I am but voicing the hearty sentiment of the entire staff of the +paper.</p> + +<p>May God's rich blessing rest upon the pages of this book as it takes a +deserved place in the libraries of lovers of Motor-minded, +Jehu-driving boys.</p> + +<p class="citation5"> +<span class="smcap">Howard A. Banks</span>,<br /> +<i>Associate Editor "The Sunday School Times."</i></p> +<p> <i>Philadelphia, Pa.</i><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a></p> +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> + + +<ol> +<li><span class="smcap">Building</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Work</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Invisible!</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Mr. Almost</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Fishing</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Showing Off</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Keeping Fit</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Questioning</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Loyalty</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">A Good Sport</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Feasting</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Stewardship</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Talents</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Fighting</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Drifting</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Resurrection</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Knowing How</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Friendship</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Alabaster</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Telling It</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Ready!</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Remembering</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Getting Even</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_82">82</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Greatness</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a><span class="smcap">"Paw, I Wanta Be Somebody!"</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">"Let Down Your Feet!"</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_92">92</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">An "Unassisted Triple Play"</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Forgiving</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_100">100</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Paradox</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Fraud</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Big Task</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_110">110</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Power</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Christmas</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Aiming High</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Waiting</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Action</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">A Coronation</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Do It Right</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Keeping Faith</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Game That Came Near Blowing<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="smcap">Up In the Seventh Inning</span></span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Bitten Apple</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_138">138</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">My Kingdom</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_141">141</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">A Tool Box</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Saul Niagara</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">"Turning the Battle at the Gate"</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">A King in Rags</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Shaking up Philippi</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Go In Yet—And Win!</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Green Fruit</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Bedouin Slave</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /></span> +<br /></li> +</ol> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a></p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h2>BUILDING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, look at Solomon building a temple! Ever see anything +like that? Yes, I have. I saw some boys building a dam. It was a peach +of a dam when they got it finished; and the little stream that +trickled along between the hillsides filled it up by next day, making +a lake big enough to put a boat in. But, oh, how those fellows worked! +For a whole week they brought rocks—big rocks—logs, and mud. Some of +those stones and logs were dragged and rolled a quarter of a mile. +They built right skillfully, too; they ricked it and they anchored the +cribs; they piled in the rocks and braced the supports.</p> + +<p>Work? I should think they did. From early morning until dark they +worked, hardly stopping long enough for meals. But it was truly <i>some</i> +dam when they got through. Then came the big moment for which they had +laboured and endured: they closed the small outlet protected by +several sections of terra-cotta pipe at the base—and let her fill!</p> + +<p>Solomon went at building the temple pretty much the same way. The boys +who built the dam said they were going to make the best <i>boys'</i> dam in +all that country around, and they did. Solomon said he was going to +put up the largest, the strongest, the finest, <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>the best-looking +temple of all for God. He put one hundred and fifty thousand strong +men in the forests and in the quarries, getting out the finest timber +and the best stone; he had these materials brought by sea and by land; +he employed workers in brass, and stone-cutters and gold-beaters +wherever he could find the most skillful, regardless of the cost, and +he himself directed the work.</p> + +<p>Well, it was a peach of a temple, too. Nothing like it had ever been +seen before. Crowning the highest hill in Jerusalem, overlooking all +the country around, its marble walls, its shining brass pillars, its +white chiselled columns, and its golden interior, it shone like a gem +of dazzling beauty. When Solomon had finished it, he invited the Lord +to come into it, and "the glory of the Lord filled the house."</p> + +<p>Fellows, we are all building some kind of a temple, and we build some +on it every day. I saw a bleary-eyed dope fiend going along the street +the other day. He has built a temple—a temple to the god Appetite. +His temple is truly a sorry looking shack, but it is good enough for +the god he serves. I know a very seedy individual, going around +begging a living of whomsoever will give him a dime or a nickel. He +has built his temple to the god Idleness. It is a ramshackle affair, +to be sure, but it is plenty good for the god he serves. I know +another fellow who has built a very ordinary looking temple—rather +poor inside and out. He served the god "Let Well Enough Alone." There +are many temples like his, and little joy is in them; but they are +good enough for the god "Do-Little."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>I think of one more temple builder. Early in his boyhood he learned +that the human body, with its wonderful soul, is a temple for God to +live in. Said he, "If God is to live in my body, then it must be fit." +He began to think of everything he did for his health, for the +training of his mind, his hands and other members, as fitting or +<i>un</i>fitting the temple, according to whether it was good or bad. He +quickly saw that his choices of entertainment and recreation were as +important as his work, in the building he was putting up for God's +dwelling. One day he made the most important discovery of all: it was +that after all he might do to make the temple fit, it could never be +so until the doors were flung wide and the Lord Himself should come +in. Then, like Solomon, he "dedicated" it—and the Lord Jesus came in +and made the temple fit, for "the glory of the Lord filled the house."</p> + +<p>Which simply means that he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. A +fellow's biggest and best and grandest work is the Temple of the Lord.</p> + +<p>Let's get at the job.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 2 Chronicles 5:1-14.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h2>WORK</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, shake hands with Mr. Work. Humanly speaking, the way in +which you meet and hook up with this gentleman will have more to do +with determining your success in life than any other one thing. Mr. +Work is a member of the most amazingly successful concern in the +community. His senior partner is Mr. Faith. "Faith and Work, +Unlimited"—that's the style of the firm, and they certainly have put +across the biggest contracts ever known to the world.</p> + +<p>Some time I hope we may have the senior partner with us, but Mr. Work +is here to-day, and we shall get a-plenty from him. In fact, "Plenty" +is his middle name. Let's look him over. He is full of life and +vigour. See his muscles, firm and hard. Watch the flash of his eye. +Something there that inspires a fellow. Notice how he is in demand. +Everywhere, people want him. Get that cheery smile; it grew on a well +done job, and stays there by repetition of well done jobs. Observe his +steadiness, his confidence, and, withal, his acceptable humility. Why, +he looks good either in Scotch cheviot or in overalls.</p> + +<p>I want to tell you a secret about this fellow. He is often mistaken +for another celebrated and much <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>honoured one—Mr. Genius. Thomas +Edison says that genius is just another name for conscientious hard +work. That being so, any fellow can make a success and an honoured +name who is willing to dig—and dig intelligently.</p> + +<p>But the best thing that can be said about work is to repeat what our +Lord said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Work is a divine +characteristic, a divine institution. Our great God works. Jesus +Christ His royal Son worked incessantly when upon earth, and works now +continually. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are +the most tireless workers in the universe. Now what do you think of +anybody who could despise work? What would you think of one who +refused the work at hand and sat idly by, or went off on some useless +excursion to escape it, while God, unwilling to lose a minute, +ceaselessly works?</p> + +<p>Of course, fellows, I'm not saying we should never go a-fishing or +play a game of ball. Recreation is in the divine program. Every proper +recreation is a help to good work. We owe it to our job and to +ourselves to keep fit, and recreation is a part of the keep fit +schedule. We only need to be careful and keep work and recreation in +their right proportions.</p> + +<p>The bitterest pills a fellow has to take are those produced by +idleness. Idleness usually lets down the portcullis and the devil +comes across and takes charge. Not that work alone is sufficient to +keep us clean and out of trouble; oh, no, that would be a fatal error, +and many have fallen by it. The firm, you remember, is "Faith and +Work, Unlimited." <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>Mr. Christian Faith is the senior partner of this +firm, and is absolutely necessary to the truly successful career in +the great business of life. We are simply looking over Mr. Work +to-day.</p> + +<p>One other wonderful thought, to me, about this matter of work, +fellows, is that when a boy is born into the world, his work is born +with him—his own particular task, his life-work. God Himself arranges +it. Isn't that fine? Who could do it so wisely? So you may depend your +job somewhere awaits you, if you have not already discovered it, and +it is a perfect fit.</p> + +<p>How to know your task? First, ask God. Pray over this thing. Then do +the thing next at hand, the duty calling now. Do it the best way you +know and put your level best into it. It is the surest way I know for +a fellow to find his best level; and usually you <i>work upward</i> to it +when you seek it in that way.</p> + +<p>Listen, fellows, this is Gospel—"Well done, good and faithful +servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee +over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Romans 12:11 and Proverbs 22:29.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h2>INVISIBLE!</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, have you ever thought what a fight you could put up if +you were invisible? Why, you could walk right up in front of a fellow +and smash his nose or knock him down before he could put up his guard +or smash back—and even then he couldn't see you to hit you. Of course +that would be a cowardly thing to do, but I'm just saying "Suppose." +And this is to introduce right here your arch enemy, the devil, who is +not a "suppose" at all, but is very real, very personal, and very +invisible,—always present and ready to do his cowardly, dirty work.</p> + +<p>Somebody said people are like a lot of safes. We may be generally of +the same pattern, but each has a different combination. Perhaps none +of us knows the combination to any but our own, but the devil carries +them all in his note-book, and he never makes the mistake of trying to +throw a fellow with a drink when his combination is a cigarette, or +vice versa.</p> + +<p>The devil's finger is in all our affairs, and we can keep nothing +secret from him. No matter what we try to do, he is ever present to +try to make us do it his way. Even when we worship God, or pray, or +sing, he has the audacity to try to make suggestions. You think the +Wright brothers were clever to "conquer <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>the air," and they were; but +the devil has won the title of "Prince of the power of the air"! His +airplane is instantaneous and noiseless; he requires no special +landing field, but can light on the lobe of your ear with a precision +that is uncanny, and, lighting there, he whispers things into your +heart that you would not dare to utter with your lips. <i>There</i> are +three points scored on the Wrights in one breath, and there are many +others.</p> + +<p>The devil has won victories over the best men we can think of. Oh, how +he got David, and spoiled a wonderful record being made by the "man +after God's own heart." All in a trice he tripped David and led him to +break six of the ten Commandments at once—five to ten inclusive! And +he got Moses for a bad fall, and Elijah and Abraham and Jacob. He +simply crept up unseen and caught them with their guards down.</p> + +<p>But in spite of the fact that he took a fall out of each of those +strong and saintly characters, he met his match and more than his +match when he tackled our Saviour. He made the strongest attack that +could have been made, but Jesus overthrew him and put him to flight, +and to-day's big news is that there is <i>a way</i> for you and me to throw +this fellow down. Simple enough, if you are on your guard. Did you +notice how Jesus handled him? He quoted Scripture to him. Scripture to +the devil is just like salt on a snail. He can't stand it.</p> + +<p>Jesus used God's Word, and that is invincible even against the devil, +our mightiest foe. Go into your Bible and select an assortment of +"devil-chasers." <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>Memorize them and have them ready for instant use. +Like David, choose five smooth stones from the "Brook" and put them in +your scrip; then you will be ready for this giant, who stalks abroad +as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Only, he doesn't roar: +he is noiseless and invisible—don't forget that.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 4:1-11.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h2>MR. ALMOST</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, meet Mr. Almost!</p> + +<p>He is one of the saddest, most pathetic figures in all the Bible +story, not because he was a villain or a murderer come to judgment, +but because he was so good and fine, and so nearly perfect, "on +points," and yet—flunked!</p> + +<p>But he was a lot lower down on the honour roll than he thought. "What +lack I yet?" he asked Jesus. Really, he couldn't see that he lacked +anything at all—and that alone was a sign of failure, if he had only +been wise enough to see it.</p> + +<p>Think of it, fellows, here was a man clean and safe and upright, as +touching the law, yet the fires of torment were leaping up to meet +him, along with Ananias the liar, and Judas the betrayer. Ananias did +give a <i>part</i> of his money to the Lord, and Judas threw his blood +money back into the bribers' faces, but this Mr. Almost closed his +fingers tight over all his gold when the Lord called for it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Almost kept the Commandments from the time he was a boy. He +worshipped God only; he bowed down to no idol; was very careful to +speak God's name reverently; wouldn't carry so much as a toothpick +around on Sunday because it would be hauling wood and breaking the +Sabbath; honoured his parents; <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>of course he never killed a person; +was pure in deed; took nothing which did not belong to him; told no +lie on his neighbours; and he never wished another's property might be +his own! Mr. Almost was <i>a pious man</i>.</p> + +<p>Jesus saw through Mr. Almost, saw through his luxurious robe and his +clean, washed skin, clear down into his stingy heart, and put his +finger instantly on the trouble. Jesus has a way of doing that. +"Having kept all the Commandments, and wanting to be perfect," said +Jesus, "now go, sell your property, and give the money to these poor +starving, dying people about you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Almost had actually <i>run</i> to meet Jesus, to ask Him that question, +"What lack I yet?" says Mark's Gospel. Yes, <i>ran</i>. He evidently had no +suspicion as to the answer he would get. Doubtless he thought the +great Master would tell him of one more hand-washing necessary before +retiring, or possibly some gnat's burden which Mr. Almost had been +carrying around on his sleeve on the Sabbath. Flick that off and be +perfect! Mr. Almost wanted to make his perfection secure. He had all +kinds of earthly securities; now this one more, the security of +heaven, guaranteed by Jesus, and he would rest satisfied. He would +just nail that down in passing. But Jesus touched him <i>where he +lived</i>, and he crumpled up like some high floating dirigible whose gas +tank explodes in mid-air.</p> + +<p>Fellows, really I didn't want to bring Mr. Almost into this volume. He +gets on my nerve—and do you know why, fellows? <i>He's too much like +me!</i> for I <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>am rich. Yes, rich in all the abundance of God's wealth +which He has given me. I live in a wonderful land, a land of freedom +and independence and opportunity—the richest and most powerful in all +the world—and as a citizen of it all its resources are mine. I have +plenty to eat and sufficient to wear, lots of friends and +well-wishers. Life is beautiful and bright and comfortable; while just +at my elbow, fellows, are many poor, starving, dying human +beings—men, women, little children. The world is closely drawn +together now, and there is never a time but that in some section of it +there is famine and suffering. If we have the means to give and will +give it to relieve human suffering, there are always reputable +agencies ready to properly dispense it.</p> + +<p>None of us can despise Mr. Almost, fellows, if we eat a square meal +and turn a deaf ear to the calls to help the suffering and the needy.</p> + +<p>This is the acid test.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Mark 10:17-27.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h2>FISHING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, the biggest and finest surprise a certain boy ever got +was on that day when he was called out of the shop to the manager's +office, and, reaching there trembling with fright, was told that he +was promoted and would from that time have a share in the profits of +the business!</p> + +<p>It was almost too good to be true. Immediately the shop looked +different—the whole plant looked different—the men, the tools, the +materials, the very smoke from the big chimney, all took on a kind of +glory. The rows of machines looked like a parade and the mingled roar +and grinding of them sounded like a brass band at a picnic. The dull +routine of a daily schedule was suddenly changed to a thrilling +program in every detail.</p> + +<p>Something had happened—not to the shop, but to him. His interest was +changed. Now, instead of simply doing his daily task for daily pay, he +was to share in the big objectives of the whole plant; he was taken +into confidence and partnership with the management. He was actually +to share and rejoice in the achievements of a business which exported +its products to every corner of the world! With what joy he realized +that his capacity for higher and larger service had been recognized, +and that now he would <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>have fellowship not only with the men of the +shop, but also with the head of the plant.</p> + +<p>Fellows, that is about what happened to Peter and Andrew and James and +John that morning on the shore of the lake. They were simply engaged +in making a living. One day was pretty much like another. Sometimes, +perhaps, the fishing was good, sometimes not so good. Life was just a +day to day affair, and rather disappointing somehow, to souls with +capacity for so much larger and finer things. Suddenly the Master, the +Creator and Proprietor of the world, appeared and said: "Boys, it's a +dull life at best—just fishing for fish; come and join me in a really +big and worth-while task—fishing for men!"</p> + +<p>And those four men caught the vision and followed Jesus. Life for them +took on a new meaning that day. Instead of a daily grind it became an +inspiring program with a grand objective.</p> + +<p>I am glad that God is so great and that His plans are so large that He +is still calling out men to share them with Him and work out their +fulfillment. And you and I, if we are wise, will gladly hear that call +and promptly respond, for we will realize that the transient things we +daily seek are not sufficient to give us any real or permanent +satisfaction, and that we have a capacity for larger and better +things.</p> + +<p>Oh, I don't suppose we can all be ministers and missionaries, though +many of us may have that highest of all privileges, but we shall also +find that a merchant's life can be so planned as to be a means of rich +service to God; that a lawyer, after all, can be a force for Christ's +kingdom; that an engineer can lay <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>out his life-work so as to make +straight the path and level the road for the King; that a +school-teacher can use his influence to bring pupils to the Master +Teacher; that a physician has peculiar opportunity to quicken the +spiritual lives of his patients; and that any legitimate occupation +can be made to serve man's chief end, which is "to glorify God and +enjoy him forever."</p> + +<p>And when you and I catch and follow that vision of our life task, +whatever it is, the whole plant changes, whether our job is in the +shop or in the office, or on the farm or in the schoolroom or pulpit, +because we have tasted of the power and fellowship of a Spirit-filled +life and a God-used career.</p> + +<p>Listen, fellows, He stands now in the morning of life, on the shore of +your little lake and calls you to a wonderful partnership!</p> + +<p>Let's follow Him!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 4:18-22.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h2>SHOWING OFF</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, it's great fun to "show off." Honest now, isn't that so? +If you've got some rare thing the other fellows haven't got, what fun +to have them come from all over the block to go up in the attic with +you to see it and watch you "work it"!</p> + +<p>I knew a boy who made an airplane. Of course it was just a toy, but it +had all the parts. He had gotten a pattern from a mechanical magazine, +with explicit instructions; he scoured around and got the dozen or +more materials necessary, then worked for days and some nights in the +basement. Finally, the thing was completed. It had a twist-rubber +propeller, and would actually fly a little—not much. But it was a +thing of beauty, and its varnished butterfly planes spread +majestically and glistened in the sunlight. There were the stays and +the rudder, the pilot's seat and the complicated triggers by which it +was supposed to be governed. Well, the boys came from far and near to +look at it, and the biggest fun the owner had was showing it to some +new boy who hadn't seen it before. That is all right, too, if you do +it in the proper spirit, but nobody likes to see a fellow get "cocky" +over his luck, no matter how good or how rare it is.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>Solomon had the show stuff all right. The Queen of Sheba heard about +it away down south in her African kingdom, and came many miles with a +caravan of camels to see for herself. This man Solomon was a wonder. +He answered her best riddles without batting an eyelash—and she had +some corking hard riddles, too. When she tired of testing him he +showed his wonderful house, his gorgeous throne of ivory overlaid with +gold, his great flocks and herds for his household table, his army of +servants, his courtly ministers, his treasuries piled with gold, and a +hundred other sights richer and finer than she had ever known.</p> + +<p>But the big event of that show day was the temple! Of course it was, +for Solomon had made it the biggest and finest thing in the kingdom. +Even if he hadn't told her she would have seen that. And there was but +one way to explain it: Solomon's God, to whom the temple had been +built, was the secret of Solomon's glory and power. That was the +impression the queen carried home.</p> + +<p>It is said that when one of the princes of India visited England, he +was overcome by the display of the wealth and grandeur of the empire. +After seeing the palaces of Buckingham and Windsor, and the Halls of +Parliament; after getting a glimpse of British shipping and commerce +plying to every known port; after viewing the greatest navy in the +world and witnessing a review of the army at Aldershot—he exclaimed +to Queen Victoria:</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Your Majesty, what is the secret of it all?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>In answer the queen took a Bible from a near-by table and placed it +in the prince's hand. "This," she said, "God's Word, is the basis of +all—God is the giver."</p> + +<p>Fellows, if there is anything you take pride in, remember the Giver. +Don't make the mistake of Nebuchadnezzar, who actually talked to +himself about how clever he was and how great he was to build Babylon +by the might of his own power (Dan. 4:30, 31). Even while he spoke +those boasting words God punished him by taking it all away from him.</p> + +<p>But it is not sufficient simply to refrain from boasting. You and I +must see to it that God gets the glory, for God has given whatever we +have that is worth-while. Let the presentation be so made that whoever +witnesses it will pass out saying: "Surely God is the secret of that +fellow's success!"</p> + +<p>Real and permanent greatness is the kind that exalts God above all.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 1 Kings 10:1-10.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h2>KEEPING FIT</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I wouldn't take a lot for the privilege of handing you +young champions this message: for it comes right out of the heart of a +King to the princes of the Blood.</p> + +<p>Yes, something doing in athletics this time,—and the Big Event for +which each one of you is preparing, whether you know it or not.</p> + +<p>"Find all that in the Bible?"</p> + +<p>Sure! that and more. Why, fellows, don't you know the Bible has more +dealings right where you live and play and work and study and eat than +any other book that was ever written? Just let me read you a part of +to-day's Scripture lesson out of Weymouth's translation, which is the +same as your Bible—only saying it in the kind of language spoken +to-day instead of that of many years ago.</p> + +<p>Listen to First Corinthians 9:24-27: "Do you not know that in the +foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You +must run like him, in order to win with certainty. But every +competitor in an athletic contest practises abstemiousness in all +directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable +wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish. That +is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>who +does not inflict blows on the air, but I hit hard and straight at my +own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have +been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected."</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, it was Paul saying that—writing to the Corinthians, who +knew all about the Corinthian games and races, and contests of +strength, skill, and endurance. And so do you know how the coach lays +his hand on your shoulder, looks you straight in the eye, and says: +"Listen, son, we've got to win that game,—you understand? From this +on, cut the big eats. No rich stuff and no stuffing. Simple diet. No +smoking. No late hours. Early to bed. Keep clean; exercise daily +according to directions. Keep fit! Do you get me?"</p> + +<p>And you meekly nod and say: "Yes, sir, boss." Do you have to do that? +Oh, no, you could drop off the team if you didn't like the conditions, +but you don't want to drop off and you comply with the conditions. You +surprise yourself by your self-control. You are in on that game, and +you're in to win. It is the event of the season. It will be the thrill +of a lifetime to win. So you are temperate because you want the glory +of winning—glory for your team; glory for your school.</p> + +<p>Fellows, thus your body becomes the temple of a living hope. And it is +all right. Bless your hearts, there are few things finer than that +self-mastery which enables a boy to deny his natural appetite for the +sake of an ideal—even though it be a sporting ideal.</p> + +<p>And I think God designed it so. He is continually <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>teaching us the +deeper and richer truths by leading us up to them through our +experiences with things we can touch and taste and see and hear.</p> + +<p>To-day He is pointing you and me, not to the temporary honour of an +athletic victory, but to the eternal honour of gaining the mastery +over our appetites for the sake of keeping our bodies, minds, and +hearts for His own indwelling. And He, Himself, is our Coach, doing +something which no other coach can—remaining constantly beside us, +within us, establishing that wonderful endurance—that indescribable +something within us which strives and strives and conquers!</p> + +<p>Fellows, talk about thrills! there is nothing like the thrill that +comes of being used—effectively used—by Him. The thrills of our +athletic victories die away with the shouting, but the deep +satisfaction of "keeping fit" for God's service grows finer and finer +as the days go by.</p> + +<p>Oh, say, fellows, <i>this</i> is the thrill of Real Life!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 1 Corinthians 6:13-20.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h2>QUESTIONING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, make a note of this: If you question Jesus in the effort +to trip Him, you throw yourself down; but if you question Jesus in +order to know and do His will, you may confidently stand upon your +feet and defy anything that threatens your peace, your happiness, or +your success.</p> + +<p>"How can a fellow question Jesus in these days, like the Pharisees?" +did I hear you ask? This way: You can question God's Word, its truth, +its justice, its wisdom in your particular case. Millions are to-day +questioning in that way; millions who do not want to change their +ways, millions who would like to overthrow God's laws, because they +want to go on in their wickedness and our Lord's teachings are a +continual reproach to them. But they are having no better success in +it than the Scribes and Pharisees had in Jesus' day.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith's door,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And heard the anvil ring the vesper chimes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Old hammers worn with beating years of time.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a></p> +<span class="i0">"'How many anvils have you had,' said I,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'To wear and batter all these hammers so?'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Just one,' said he, and then with twinkling eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And so,' I thought, 'the Anvil of God's Word<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For ages skeptic blows have beat upon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now, fellows, those Scribes and Pharisees ought to have known better +than to try to tangle Jesus in His talk. Already they had been +astonished by the wise words He said, by the unmistakable "authority" +shown in His manner and teachings, by the power of His mere word over +diseases and devils. These men were the devil's own servants. There +are many such to-day, and they never seem to realize until too late +that <i>their</i> master will allow them to walk right into a hopeless +fix—caught in their own trap.</p> + +<p>Let's run our eye down the closing verse of this chapter of Matthew, +as it tells better than any other how completely squelched were these +critics of Jesus: "And no one was able to answer him a word, neither +durst any man from that time forth ask him any more questions."</p> + +<p>But there is a kind of questioning which we do want to practise. One +of the wisest and finest things a fellow can do is to make it a rule +to ask Jesus <i>some</i> questions every day in His Word. Make a place in +your day's schedule—make it in the morning, first thing if possible, +or very soon after you are up. Open your Bible with a question, and +let that question be: "Lord Jesus, what would you like to tell me +<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>to-day out of these verses of Scripture which I am about to read? +What thing in my life would you warn me against, or what thing should +I do which I am not doing? Or, is there a better way I should try?</p> + +<p>"Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."</p> + +<p>Fellows, start a day like that—honestly—and <i>you cannot fail</i>!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 22:15-46.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h2>LOYALTY</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, what is the most loyal thing you ever did? I should like +to know. Was it when you waded into a big bully who was licking your +little brother, and took the drubbing yourself? Or was it when some +fellows accused you of being tied to your mother's apron strings, and +you flashed back at them: "Yes, and she is the finest mother a boy +ever had!" Or was it when you sat up all night in a coach on a +railroad trip to root for your team next day on the enemy's field?</p> + +<p>I heard of a British boy in Flanders who was brought back of the lines +for surgical treatment, and when they opened his shirt they found +tattooed on his breast the words: <i>For My King!</i> I read of a French +lad whose arm had to be amputated at the shoulder, having been +shattered by a German shell. When he regained consciousness, the +surgeon, moved with deep sympathy, said, "Oh, my poor boy, I am so +sorry you lost your arm!" The boy's eyes snapped as he answered: +"Lost! No, don't say that; I <i>gave</i> it to France!"</p> + +<p>Each one of you fellows has a tremendous capacity for being loyal to +some thing, some principle, or <i>somebody</i>. It is a costly part of your +make-up, be<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>cause it will cause you to make sacrifice. What are you +choosing as the object of your loyalty?</p> + +<p>Fellows, I want to offer you King Jesus as the One upon whom you can +spend your loyalty to the limit. There is none like Him. He is the +chief among ten thousand. When He gives you a task He gives you at the +same time the power to do it. When He sends you to men, He opens the +hearts of those to whom you are sent. You can undertake anything for +King Jesus without fear, no matter how difficult or how impossible the +task may seem.</p> + +<p>Why, fellows, think of those two disciples going after that colt for +Jesus their King to ride upon! He sent them for it. The beast belonged +to some one else, yet they were to untie it and bring it. If the owner +objected, all they were to say was: "The Lord hath need of him." That +would settle it. They brought it as directed. That was faith, and that +was loyalty.</p> + +<p>To-day King Jesus wants messengers—not to send out for asses, but +into the haunts of sin for lost men and women; and into the social, +commercial, and industrial world to present His claims. Some, hearing +the call, are answering, "But how do I know I will succeed in that +sort of business? Will I be contented in such work? Will it pay? Will +it keep me in a comfortable living? Will men come when I tell them?" +Listen, fellows, King Jesus says: "All power is given unto +me—Go!—and lo, I am with you alway!" That is sufficient, it is the +King's own word for it; and here is the place where you can exercise +your priceless loyalty to the limit, and never <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>know a moment's +regret. The King Himself goes with you.</p> + +<p>The loyal servants of King Jesus never have to root for a losing game; +victory is assured from the beginning.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Mark 11:1-11.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a></p> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h2>A GOOD SPORT</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I overheard a remark the other day as I passed a bunch +of boys down on the corner. One of the boys was saying, "Oh, he's a +good sport, all right," and I wondered just what that boy thought it +took to make a good sport. About that time one of the boys whom I knew +pulled out of the crowd and coming my way overtook me, so I asked him +who was the "good sport" the fellows were talking about.</p> + +<p>"Why," he said, "it was Jim Love; when he was in the two-mile +cross-country foot race the other day, with a good chance of getting +ahead of Tom Locke, who won it, Jim stopped long enough to help a guy +across a footlog with a sack of potatoes or something—and even then +came in just a few yards behind Tom. He would have won, but for that +stop; but he said the old man looked as if he was about to fall off +the footlog. Tom saw it, too, but he waded the creek and got a better +lead on Jim."</p> + +<p>It did me good to think of those fellows classing Jim up as "a good +sport," after I knew what had happened. They had the right idea. I +believe our Lord would have called Jim a good sport, too, if He had +been telling the boys of to-day about it, because the Christ spirit in +a fellow is what makes him a "good sport" in the highest sense. Once +when a <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>proud Pharisee was trying to trap our Lord with a "catch +question," Jesus answered him with a story very much like that which +made the boys call Jim Love a good sport.</p> + +<p>The Pharisee asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbour?" and Jesus told him +about the Good Samaritan. A man was travelling from Jerusalem down the +rough mountain road to Jericho, and was attacked by bandits, beaten, +robbed, and left lying beside the road half dead. A priest came along, +but he was in a hurry; he had important religious duties awaiting him, +and besides, that fellow looked as if he was in bad and it would take +a lot of time and trouble to "undertake" him, so Mr. Priest just +hummed a little tune to himself, looked at the sky and passed on.</p> + +<p>Then came a Levite. He got down off his donkey and stepped over and +looked at the poor fellow. Yes, he was breathing, but so near dead he +probably would not last long, so why worry? So passed on the Levite. +But next came along a man whom the priest and the Levite despised +because he was a Samaritan. They regarded him as a very poor sort of a +citizen.</p> + +<p>But the Samaritan had a heart in him and he had a way of saying to +himself when he saw anybody in distress: "Suppose I was in that +fellow's fix, what would I like to have done for me?" When he asked +himself that question on this occasion, the answer came quick and +strong: "Get down and help him all you can; yes, your business is +urgent, too, but here is a fellow-man in hard luck and you've got the +stuff to help with!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>That is the way the heart of a good sport talks back to a fellow, and +a good sport listens when his heart speaks, and a good sport acts +quickly. So the Samaritan got down off his donkey and ran to the man, +felt his pulse, spoke to him, loosened his shirt and looked into that +ugly wound all bleeding. Then back to his travelling sack and out with +the oil and wine.</p> + +<p>Pouring in the soothing and healing stuff, he doubtless said: "There +now, old fellow, you're feeling better already; just keep steady a +bit, and we'll get you out of this; a little water? yes, hold on a +minute—" and down to the trickling stream he runs and brings a cool +drink in his little leather cup.</p> + +<p>Ah, it was fine to see that beaten man revive! He opened his eyes wide +and looked the gratitude he was not yet able to speak. Soon the +Samaritan got the whole story of the attack, listening with +sympathetic indignation as the wounded man told how it happened, how +he was taken by surprise by those cowardly ruffians, stripped, robbed, +and beaten into insensibility. Directly he was trying to raise up on +his elbow, and the Samaritan said:</p> + +<p>"Now you just put your arm around my neck and hold steady while I +lift. That's it, get your weight on your right foot, lean forward, and +I'll get you atop this beast. Ah! that's the stuff, you're getting +stronger every minute—now steady just a moment, let me pick up that +oil bottle—all right—Get up! Bess—steady, girl, keep your hoofs in +the path, and we'll make it fine. There, that's the movement.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>"The inn is only a mile down the road now, friend, and there is food +and a good bed awaiting you—oh, well, that's all right about your +money being taken, I'll take care of that. The innkeeper and I are +good friends, and likely with the good treatment you'll get you will +be on your way in a couple of days—"</p> + +<p>And so they go, the donkey picking her way carefully over the rougher +places under the restraining voice of her master, while the wounded +man leans heavily upon his benefactor.</p> + +<p>Then, you know the rest, fellows. That despised Samaritan saw the +thing clean through. He did not leave "his neighbour" until he had +spent a night with him at the inn and had an understanding next +morning with the innkeeper as to his safekeeping until able to resume +the journey.</p> + +<p>And what did our Lord teach in that graphic story? Why, simply this: +Anybody whom you can help is your neighbour. If there is a poor man at +my door needing something I can give, he is my neighbour. Or, if there +is a rich Chinaman six thousand miles across the seas, needing the +spiritual help I can send him through my prayers, my gifts, or my +personal attention—he is my neighbour. Distance, short or long, is +not the measure of neighbourhood; but need and my ability to help are +the tests which determine how near by is my brother man.</p> + +<p>The Boy Scouts have a fine motto: "Do a Good Turn Daily." There is +just one better—"Do a Good Turn Whenever You Can," and that is loving +your neighbour.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Luke 10:25-37.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h2>FEASTING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, a man raised a glass of water to his mouth to take a +drink; some one passing struck his elbow, and—! Now an interesting +thing has happened: each one of you fellows got a picture, complete in +all details, to a climax. Yet there was no real picture; it was all in +your imagination, spurred by twenty-one simple words. And it was a +<i>moving picture</i>, too, and it went away past the word-spurs, because +you painted the balance of it yourselves like a flash. You saw the +glass fall and smash on the floor, and you saw the water spatter the +man's feet and trousers—then some of you saw him jump back and look +up quick and kind of mad like at the person passing, and maybe say +something rough.</p> + +<p>Well, that's a wonderful machine you've got there, fellows; anything +that can make a moving picture out of a thin line of material like +that—a really for-the-moment interesting picture, with all the +finishing touches—has a most valuable and useful outfit. Now Jesus +knew His hearers had outfits of that wonderful kind, so in speaking to +them He helped them draw pictures which would enable them to see some +very interesting and startling things—things which they <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>needed to +know worse than a dying man needs a doctor.</p> + +<p>Most of the pictures which He drew in this way were to show what the +kingdom of heaven is like. Men in those days, just as nowadays, were +walking around bumping right up against the kingdom of heaven without +knowing it. So Jesus drew pictures to help them see this wonderful +kingdom, in order that they might not only become glad citizens of it +but also to escape an awful fate.</p> + +<p>The picture I want to present is of a great and rich king who was also +both good and generous, making a marriage feast for his son and +inviting a large number of guests.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, use your fine imagination again. You saw the king's +surprise when the first servants reported; you saw him knit his brows +(like this) and stand silently thinking a moment before deciding to +send a second word; but can you imagine his astonishment a little +later, when two of that second squad came running in, all breathless, +and told him that though they fully explained the magnificence of the +wedding supper, some turned upon their heels with a flimsy excuse, +others rudely laughed outright in the messengers' faces, and—oh, the +horror of it!—still others actually stoned and beat some of the +messengers to death!—and their bodies were even at that moment lying +in the street, being licked by dogs.</p> + +<p>I say, can you see the king now? I think you can, for you have heard +what he did. Yes, his servants went out again to those same people, +but this time with swords and spears and fire, a terrible army of +<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>them, marching to the dread drum-beat of judgment, "and destroyed +those murderers and burned up their city."</p> + +<p>Yes, fellows, I know what you are saying. You are saying, "Well, I +don't see how anybody could be as big a fool as that!" And yet, do you +know that people are just as foolish to-day? Jesus told that parable +to help us, too. The kingdom of heaven is just as close to you and to +me; the greatest King of all—that's Jesus—is inviting boys and men +to come in to the feast of usefulness and happiness and joy of an +out-and-out Christian life, a feast which He has Himself prepared, and +some are turning their backs upon His call, unwilling to take the +King's own word for it that they will have the time of their lives, +which will grow sweeter and finer and better as the days go by, and +never, never end!</p> + +<p>I tell you, fellows, there's nobody who can make a feast like Jesus; +things taste even a lot better than they look on the card, for He +always gives more than He promises. Don't <i>you</i> make the mistake of +turning down His invitation. It would be a tragedy. Let's answer His +gracious call to-day like this:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Over mountain or plain or sea;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I'll be what you want me to be."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 22:1-10.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h2>STEWARDSHIP</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, how much is a boy worth in money? The United States +Labour Bureau in 1914 estimated the average cost of rearing a boy to +the age of sixteen was then $1,325. It must average at least $1,500 +now. Well, fellows, that is what you cost; are you worth it? I am +talking of actual, not sentimental, values. Father and mother wouldn't +take a million dollars for any one of you, I suppose, but that does +not mean you are worth it. An investment of $1,500 ordinarily is +expected to yield at least six per cent. a year, which is $90.</p> + +<p>I know a fourteen-year-old boy who is earning $7 a week. He gives it +all to his widowed mother on Saturday night. She gives him back a +dollar of it. He first takes out ten cents for his church pledge and +five cents for Sunday-school. Then he puts fifty cents in his savings +bank. He has about $25 in the bank. The remainder, thirty-five cents, +he spends as his fancy dictates. He is a steady boy and it is +reasonable to count upon his putting in eleven months a year at his +work, allowing one month for vacation. His gross financial value to +his mother for the year, therefore, is not less than $280. It costs +her about $12.50 a month to provide his food and clothing. That takes +off $150, so his net financial value a year <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>is $130, which is six per +cent. on $2,166. Thus you see that fourteen-year-old boy is a paying +investment on considerably more than the average cost of a +sixteen-year-old boy, and I do not wonder that that fellow's mother +would not take a million for him, for the money part of his value is +the least of all.</p> + +<p>But this is not by any means an accurate way to arrive at a boy's real +value. The more fortunate boy will be going to school nine months of +the year. He is preparing for a later very much higher value than the +boy who is denied an education, and while he may not be earning money +now, he is earning a certain knowledge, skill, and development which +will give him equipment of high value. At any rate, sooner or later, +fellows, you find yourself with a capacity for earning and +accumulating money. And, remember, in your relation to your money, +that after all it is not <i>yours</i>, but God's—no matter how it comes +into your hands.</p> + +<p>In Luke 16 is the account of Dives, whom God permitted to be rich, but +who made the fatal mistake of using his wealth for the sole purpose of +gratifying himself. He built a luxurious home, he bought fine clothes +and feasted every day on costly food. There were suffering and want +all about him, but he turned his face away from the needy. One poor +fellow named Lazarus, too weak to walk and all covered with sores, was +laid at this rich man's gate where he was bound to see him day after +day.</p> + +<p>The dogs came and licked the poor man's sores, but Dives passed him +by. Lazarus got a servant to ask for the scraps taken from the rich +man's table, but <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>he needed other help. God gave Dives money and gave +him an opportunity to serve his fellow-man with it, but Dives failed +to catch the idea, somehow. He foolishly spent his money upon himself, +and one night Dives lay down to sleep on a full stomach and woke up in +torment.</p> + +<p>Fellows, money was his undoing. Money can be a curse, or it can be a +blessing. All depends upon whether or not you recognize God's +ownership, acknowledge it, and act upon it. Some of the saddest lives +ever lived are those built around a wrong conception of their relation +to money. Some of the happiest and most successful lives are those +built upon the principle that money is a God-given trust to be used +for Him.</p> + +<p>Fellows, what are you going to be worth—to God, and to your +fellow-man?</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Luke 16:19-31.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h2>TALENTS</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, one morning in spring a boy came to me and said: "Dad, +let's go fishing; I saw the bass jumping in the lake just now, and +that means they are ready to bite."</p> + +<p>"All right," I replied, "you get the bait and the lines ready and we +will go at four this afternoon." He did so.</p> + +<p>Then we went around to the point on the lake where he had seen the +fish jumping. I made a dandy throw, first try, and as the bait began +bobbing in and out among the flags I could just see myself hanging a +beauty. I was watching the line so hard that I forgot the boy for two +or three minutes; then, turning, I saw him standing there looking very +sad.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter," I said, "why don't you unwrap your line and +fish?"</p> + +<p>He whimpered: "I want to fish for bass, with a big line, like yours."</p> + +<p>"Why," I said, "you couldn't handle a big rod and line like this; and +if you could, you would get it tangled up in those flags out there; +now you just unwrap your little line, put a little worm on your little +hook and drop it over there by that stump, and you will catch a little +perch."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>Well, he didn't want to do it, but because I ordered him to do it he +cast in his hook. In the meantime, I was watching my minnow again; it +was playing beautifully, but getting no strike. I was still watching +it intently, when all of a sudden I heard a great splashing beside me, +and looking around—there was a sight! That boy's little pole was +nearly bent double, and at the end of his line threshing and churning +the water at a terrific rate was a big fish! The boy was having the +time of his life; oh, he played him, he tightened him and slacked him, +but all the time bringing him nearer to the bank.</p> + +<p>In about a half minute (it seemed much longer) there was <i>a +pound-and-a-half bass</i> flapping out there on the grass. In the +meantime, the big hook continued to do nothing—and it never did, that +afternoon. We went home with the one bass, and that night the family +sat around the supper table and greatly enjoyed the fish <i>caught on +the little hook</i>.</p> + +<p>God will honour the fellow that does the best he can <i>with what he has +in his hand</i>. And perhaps it will be a far greater honour than you +ever dreamed of.</p> + +<p>When our Lord told the parable He did not mean to make small of the +fellow who has only small ability. He condemned the fellow who refused +to use what ability he had because it was small and because he did not +have as much as somebody else to work with. Let's suppose the last +part of that parable had read this way:</p> + +<p>"Then he which had received the One Talent came and said, Lord, you +only gave me one talent, and when I saw you giving that other fellow +five and <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>still another two, I was all cut up about it. I did not see +why you should give them more to work with than you gave me. I boiled +inside. I said to myself, Well, if that is the way he treats me, I +will simply take his talent and bury it until he comes back; then I +will dig it up and hand it back to him just as he handed it to me.</p> + +<p>"But then I thought again, and I remembered that it was your property +you were distributing, and you had a perfect right to do it as you +chose. I remembered that you are both a wise and a kind master; you +have never given me a reason to question your love for me and your +interest in me; and you know me and my capacity for handling your +property far better than I know myself. So I decided to take that One +Talent and work with it and do the very best I could with it. And, +Lord, I did; and here, see—I have gained another one to go with it; +here are <i>two talents."</i></p> + +<p>Bless your life, fellows, do you know what his lord would have said to +that man? He would have said to him exactly what he said to the other +two men.</p> + +<p>A poor boy in New York got himself a job at a little lunch stand. He +found he had a little talent for making the lunches attractive and +people would buy them. He stuck at it, saved his earnings, and after a +while bought out the lunch stand. He enlarged the variety of his +lunches and added some other goods. And, to make a long story short, +he is now acknowledged to be the greatest hotel man in the world.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>The fellow who uses the talent he has, be it one, two, or five, and +takes Jesus for his partner, is bound to be a success.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 25:14-30.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h2>FIGHTING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows! of all the boys in the Old Testament, David is my +choice. There was something about that chap that was "real class."</p> + +<p>If David were to happen in your bunch, doubtless when you got to +knowing him every one of you would want him for a chum. He was the +kind of fellow that real boys like: not a braggart and not a "sissy," +but generally when it came to his turn to bat he smashed the ball for +a clean hit. Or if he should happen to strike out, he didn't slam the +stick to the ground, but with a smile stepped back and turned a +handspring and lit on his feet rooting for the next man up. Of course, +you know there was not any baseball in those days, but that is about +the way David would have played the game.</p> + +<p>Out there minding the sheep, David didn't get moody. It might have +been a slow job for others, but not for him. No, he had a harp and he +made music with it. He had a sling, and could hit a quarter on a +telegraph pole with it—if there had been quarters and telegraph +poles. But there were other things to use that sling on, and they gave +David a touch of real life.</p> + +<p>David knew that lions, bears, and wolves lurked in <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>the forests near +the pastures in which his sheep must graze, and he got ready for them. +Notice, fellows, here is one of the secrets of David's success: he was +always ready. His big opportunity came when he arrived at King Saul's +camp on that errand for his father, and he was ready for it.</p> + +<p>He was ready, first, because he believed God's power was greater than +any army, and that God would fight for any one who fought for Him. Did +you notice in the Bible account how David told the king that God would +handle the matter; and how he also told Goliath out there on the +field, while all men held their breath, that it was Goliath plus +sword, spear, and shield, against David plus God?</p> + +<p>And so God helped. One smooth stone, the first out of the sling, +crunched through that big bluffer's head like a baseball through a +stained glass window, and the Philistine fell on his face.</p> + +<p>Everybody's giant comes some day. Every fellow's big opportunity comes +one time, at least, and he can be just as ready for it as David was.</p> + +<p>That's the big news to-day.</p> + +<p>I like to think of the five smooth stones as representing five +characteristics of David's readiness.</p> + +<p><i>First Stone:</i> (the one he slung) <i>Faith.</i> We have been talking about +that—faith in God. David prayed as he picked up those stones, you +know he did.</p> + +<p><i>Second Stone: A pure heart.</i> God searched it that day at Bethlehem +and approved him for anointing. David was clean. You would never hear +him telling smutty stories, nor did he think them.</p> + +<p><i>Third Stone: Industrious habits.</i> Think of his skill <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>in playing the +harp, and his effectiveness with that deadly sling.</p> + +<p><i>Fourth Stone: A courageous spirit.</i> A lion's mane, a bear's skin, and +a giant's head, of which we know, bear testimony to this. No wonder +the shepherd boy could stand before a king and reason with him in the +presence of a national crisis.</p> + +<p><i>Fifth Stone: A humble spirit.</i> Listed last, but not least by a good +deal. "Thy servant will go and fight this Philistine"; "Thy servant +kept his father's sheep and—" "The Lord will" do this thing—not I. +David's humility throughout his boyhood and young manhood—indeed +throughout his whole life—is one of the fine and strong points of his +character.</p> + +<p>In the brook that runs alongside your lives, fellows, these five +smooth stones and others are waiting for each one of you. Put them in +your "scrip" <i>now</i> and be ready for life's opportunities; for they are +coming, head on, to meet you, and <i>God wants to be on your side</i>.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read the seventeenth chapter of 1 Samuel.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h2>DRIFTING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, there is a little animal in the North Woods, called the +weasel. In coldest winter its fur turns snow white and its pelt is +very valuable. The white fur of the weasel (sometimes called the +ermine) is used to make some of the most beautiful and expensive +stoles that elegant and wealthy ladies wear. Therefore, in very cold +winters, trapping the weasel is profitable as well as interesting.</p> + +<p>Now here comes the queer part of this story: The weasel is small, and +any scar made upon its snow-white coat is doubly conspicuous. If the +pelt is torn or injured it is rejected; so the trapper must take his +captive clean and scarless. The weasel will not enter a cage trap, and +the much used snap-jaw steel trap would tear the skin. But the weasel +likes to lick a smooth surface, especially if it is the slightest bit +greasy; so the trapper smears with grease the blade of a large knife +and lays it on top of the snow, secured by a chain attached to the +handle, and covers the chain with snow to hide it.</p> + +<p>The weasel comes along and immediately indulges its natural desire to +lick the smooth blade, and instantly the end of its tongue clings fast +to the cold steel. Try as it may, it cannot pull loose without tearing +its tongue out, which usually it will not do, but sits quietly by, +until released by the trapper, <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>released only to die. Luckless weasel, +trapped by the tongue.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, the weasel does no more wicked thing than to follow its +natural inclinations; but natural inclinations are not safe guides; +they more frequently lead to death. We folks are much like the weasel; +we are much of the time dead bent in the direction of what is worst +for us. Is not our God good to give us the plain warnings which we as +intelligent beings can see and understand—and, seeing and +understanding, "Stop, Look, and Listen!"—turn about and head toward +safety, success, and happiness! Surely, He <i>is good</i>. But what matters +how good God is and how plain His warnings if we go right on in the +wrong direction?</p> + +<p>If a weasel could understand a warning and should say, "Yes, I know, +but I am just going to lick this once," what would it matter how clear +the warning was?</p> + +<p>God's warnings are such as should turn us face about; right now, +before we are hard and fast in one of the devil's many crafty snares, +for he always lays his snares along the path of our <i>natural +inclinations</i>. God warns: "Abhor evil," learn to hate it, pray to hate +it. "Cleave to the good," learn to love it, pray to love it.</p> + +<p>Naturally, we seek our own praise, but face about! seek the praise for +another, in true brotherly spirit. Naturally, we are lazy and would +shirk our task; but brace up! put vim in the job; that honours God, +and incidentally, puts both success and joy in the work. When we get +in trouble, naturally we chafe and <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>become impatient; God says, "Be +patient in tribulation." That's a "Right-about-face!" for you. We pray +once and quit—naturally. God says keep on praying. When folks nag at +us and pester us, naturally we blaze out at them. God says, don't +blaze, but bless. And that's "To the rear! Hey!"</p> + +<p>Naturally, our noses turn up and our heads are lifted to salute the +lofty ones; God says look around for those not so well off as we are, +and lavish our sociability on <i>them</i>. Naturally, we try to "get even" +with the fellow who does us a mean turn; God says turn that matter +over to Him; He will take care of it. And when that fellow needs help, +as surely he will sooner or later (maybe right now), make him the +special object of our kindness.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, I know, fellows, it is much easier to do the way you feel +like doing. But when your boat is drifting down the current, which is +the natural way, it takes a Real Fellow to dig his oars in and turn +and row up-stream. And that's what you propose to be: a Real Fellow, +and the best part of it is you then become a Yoke-fellow with Jesus +Christ; and let me tell you, <i>He pulls a good oar!</i></p> + +<p>Fellows, drifting means "over the falls." "There is a way which +seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" +(Prov. 16:25). Pulling up-stream with Christ means getting to the +sunshine of the eternal hills. "But the path of the righteous is as +the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" +(Prov. 4:18).</p> + +<p>Fellows, I had rather <span class="smcap">pull</span> with Christ than <span class="smcap">drift</span> +with the devil, wouldn't you?</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read the twelfth chapter of Romans.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h2>RESURRECTION</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I'll never forget one exciting morning on the banks of +the Etowah River, a treacherous stream that threads its way through +the red hills of northwest Georgia. A bunch of us boys were spending +that morning in swimming. Not much swimming, either, for only one boy +in the crowd could swim, and all except him were under thirteen years +old. Bob was fifteen, and a good swimmer. One of the boys waded out +pretty deep, and the undercurrent swept him off his feet. There was a +cry, and he sank.</p> + +<p>Then it was that Bob did a fine thing, which has caused the rest of us +to look upon him as a real hero ever since. He ran along the bank, +down-stream a little way, and jumped in, rapidly made his way to a +point a few yards below where the boy had gone down, dived, and came +up with him. The rest of us waded out as far as we dared, to meet him, +and all together we drew the couple to shore. But, fellows, that boy +was dead—at least he seemed to be, and we were certain of it.</p> + +<p>We lifted his limp body out of the water and laid it on the ground. We +were three miles from town. Scared? We were terrified! All of us were +trembling from head to foot with fright. There were no <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>Boy Scouts in +those days, and boys had not learned the scientific way to restore a +drowned person to life. We were alone and helpless in the presence of +sudden death, and knew not what to do.</p> + +<p>One boy suggested that we ought to "get the water out of him," and +that was followed by another suggestion, to put the body over the +lower limb of a near-by tree letting the head hang down, so the water +could run out of the mouth. This we proceeded to do, with a great deal +of difficulty, but finally we got it up there, hanging across the +limb, pretty much like a wet necktie.</p> + +<p>After the body had hung in the tree about five minutes, while we stood +about, panting, pale, and terror-stricken, we again took it down and +laid it out on the ground. All of a sudden, to our amazement there was +a movement about the mouth and a little gasp, as for breath. The rough +handling of the body getting it in and out of the tree had had some +effect.</p> + +<p>Instinctively we began to roll him over and move his arms about. We +knew nothing of the proper method, but the mouth opened and he +breathed again—then again—and as we let him rest a moment on his +back, he opened his eyes and looked at us, from one to the other.</p> + +<p>Fellows, can you imagine how we felt? Well, we couldn't speak; we just +jumped around like Indians and shouted and laughed and cried. It was +wonderful—the most thrilling experience I think I ever had, but I was +wobbly in the knees for a week afterward.</p> + +<p>The thing which tremendously impressed me was <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>the coming back from +death to life—for so it seemed to us. But what do you suppose must +have been the feelings of those two women and the disciples, on that +astonishing morning when the two Marys went at early dawn with spices +to place about the Lord's body,—the body which they had seen die upon +the cross two days before; the body they had seen lifted down from the +cross and which they had helped to prepare for burial; the body they +had seen sealed up in the tomb as the sun went down on the darkest, +saddest day the world ever knew?</p> + +<p>What must have been their feelings, I say, fellows, when suddenly He +appeared before them <i>alive</i> and <i>well</i> and <i>speaking</i>? How they must +have leaped to do the thing their risen Lord commanded: "Go +quickly—tell."</p> + +<p>Do you know what it all means to you fellows who have accepted Him as +your Saviour and Friend and Guide?</p> + +<p>It means this: that you in your youth, full of life and with all the +thrill of growing strength and manhood, have no dead and lifeless +program to follow, no fickle and disappointing "rewards" which perish +with using; but yours is always a forward, up-going +experience—something doing every day that is worth while, something +that brings a thrill which does not die out and leave you weaker, but +makes you stronger every day, and prepares you for a yet bigger +task,—a <i>living</i> task and a <i>living</i> reward—Eternal Life!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read John 20:1-21.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h2>KNOWING HOW</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, have you heard of the expert who was called in to start +the big engine? Every wheel in the plant had come to a sudden +standstill. Something had gone wrong in the engine room, and the +engineer was nonplused. To save his life he could not locate the +trouble. The superintendent was down there mad as a hornet. A thousand +operatives were idle on full pay, and it was like burning money on an +ash heap. Still that engineer fumbled around. The "super" telephoned +for the expert to come at once and see what was the matter.</p> + +<p>Directly, he walked quietly in, glanced at the steam gauge and turned +the throttle wheel a bit. Then, with a tiny hammer which he drew from +his pocket he lightly tapped some parts of the machine, here and +there. He paused at a certain pipe leading to the steam chest, called +for a wrench, removed a tap and a plate, peered in, then carefully +picked out a piece of cotton waste and replaced the plate and tap. +"Now open your throttle," he said to the engineer. The big engine +moved off like a thing of life, pulleys began to whirl and belts to +whirr, and a thousand hands resumed their work.</p> + +<p>In the office the expert handed in his memorandum charge. It was fifty +dollars and fifty cents.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>"It is all right," said the superintendent, "we're glad to pay it, +but would you mind telling me what the fifty cents is for?"</p> + +<p>The expert smiled, "Why, that is my charge for the one minute spent in +locating your trouble, the fifty dollars is for <i>knowing how</i>."</p> + +<p>Fellows, your life is a great big costly engine, built with infinite +skill, and you are the engineer. It is a wonderful thing running that +engine,—wonderful because it is the motive power to turn many wheels +and affect many lives. Rightly understood and properly handled it will +produce great values, and be a blessing to the world. Misunderstood +and carelessly handled, it will cause loss and suffering to you and +perhaps many others.</p> + +<p>As a boy, I used to go to the engine room of my father's mill and +watch the engineer. Continually, he moved about, watching its +movements, its big flywheel half below in the pit, half above, and the +broad belt that glided over it and disappeared through the brick wall +into the mill; now he would be refilling the oil cups, now noting the +steam gauge, or polishing the shining brass trimmings almost with a +caress. He was the first man on hand in the morning, and the last man +to leave at night. Oh, how well he must know his engine, how carefully +he must guard its movements, how always he must be on the job, if he +would be a capable, successful, happy engineer!</p> + +<p>And what is God's Word telling us about it to-day? Listen, "Happy is +the man that findeth wisdom [to know God, to know himself, to know his +engine], and the man that getteth understanding <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[how to run his +engine]. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of +silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Length of days is in her +right hand [a long and happy career of productive energy] and in her +left hand riches [the actual wealth which God promises to those who +obey His law and love His service, and the inexpressible satisfaction +which comes with the honour that honours God first of all]."</p> + +<p>Every fellow can have this wisdom for the asking. Every fellow can +know how to run his life engine, to avoid the breakdowns, to keep the +wheels humming the song of industry and success. Life is the most +interesting thing in the world, and God gives it abundantly. "If any +of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men +liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, here is the whole matter in a nutshell: Your life +machine is the most wonderful, the most mysterious, and at the same +time the most "runnable" thing that the great God has created; but to +run it successfully, as God designed it to be run, you must get your +instructions from Him, the Maker of it. His Book of Rules, the Bible, +must be your daily guide, and through it He will speak to you in your +wonderful day as you live it in His companionship.</p> + +<p>Fellows, it is the Life!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Psalm 119:1-11.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h2>FRIENDSHIP</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, if you were blindfolded and walking a plank above +Niagara Falls, humanly speaking your chances would be about as good as +David's were when King Saul in a frenzy of rage and jealousy was +seeking his life. David sized it up when he said: "There is but a step +between me and death."</p> + +<p>If ever a fellow needed a friend, David needed one at that time.</p> + +<p>And a friend he had—a friend with a backbone, a true friend—as brave +as any knight who sat at King Arthur's Table Round or followed in the +train of Richard Coeur de Lion.</p> + +<p>Young gentlemen, meet Prince Jonathan!</p> + +<p>He never got to be a king, but he had a kingly spirit—if that means +something high and noble. He never deserted a cause which had a claim +upon him. He was true to Saul, his father; he fell at Gilboa fighting +by his side. He was true to David, his friend, unto the point of +death.</p> + +<p>You may recall that in a former chapter I mentioned the opinion that +David was the kind of a fellow any red-blooded boy would like. On that +day of wonders, when in the twinkling of an eye the shepherd lad +became the champion of two armies, <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>when the musical fingers of the +boy who played a harp and tended sheep did the execution which routed +the enemy and laid a giant's head at the feet of the king—that day +Jonathan's soul was knit to the soul of David in a lifelong +friendship. It was the kind of friendship which stands the test of +adversity.</p> + +<p>It was no wonder that David could have the admiring friendship even of +a prince on the day of his triumph and for days afterward when all +people were singing his praises and he moved upon the high places of +royal and popular favour. If the tide had not turned, Jonathan's +friendship would have been only an incident upon the page of history, +if it had been recorded at all. It would not have been a thing so +fine, so inspiring, as to have thirty millions of Sunday-school folks +discussing it to-day.</p> + +<p>But the tide turned, and there came a day when it was expensive and +hazardous to be a friend of David. Jonathan's position became both +delicate and perilous. Saul his father was a despot who would take his +own son's life if he sought to excuse or defend one whom the king +conceived to be his enemy. Jonathan's friendship stood the test. His +own life hung lightly in the balance, but Jonathan would rather have +given his life than fail his friend. He took it in his hand that +evening at the royal feast of the new moon; and he played with death +as the javelin of the infuriated Saul came hurtling across the table.</p> + +<p>Then it was that this thing called Friendship sprang forth in all its +wonderful strength and beauty and found its place in poetry and song. +Greater love hath <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>no man than this, that a man lay down his life for +his friends, said Jesus. Ah! there is the best friend of all—Jesus! +And what did He do? Well, He did this, which proves it:</p> + +<p>There came a day when you and I were fugitives from the king—not a +tyrant king, like Saul, but a just and holy God; not an innocent +fugitive, like David, but a sinner meriting the King's wrath and +curse; and One stood in the councils of Eternity—the Great White +Prince—and said, "Father, forgive him; let me take his place; let me +suffer his punishment; let me bear his shame; but him forgive and +restore to a place in court and to the joy of the Royal Service."</p> + +<p>And the King consented, and the Son came to earth and died upon the +cross to satisfy the law and make it possible for you and me, fugitive +sinners, to return to the King's Table—forgiven and restored!</p> + +<p>Let's go!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read the twentieth chapter of 1 Samuel.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h2>ALABASTER</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, a bunch of college students were talking over the news +that had come to the campus that morning about Bob Allman. They were +not only surprised; they were mad, for "Bob Allman had done the +biggest fool thing ever committed by any decent fellow that the +college had sent out,"—that was the unanimous verdict. And of all the +bunch in last year's graduating class, Bob was the last one you would +have suspected of such a thing, he had so much at stake. He was the +clearest-headed, the best-balanced, the finest physical specimen, the +smartest chap in the lot. Bob was one of those rare fellows who could +stand high in his classes and be popular with the boys and the +professors alike. He was president of his class and captain of the +'varsity football team, and everybody was glad of it.</p> + +<p>The amazing news had arrived, in a letter from Bob, himself, to one of +the boys stating that he was that very week at Vancouver, taking ship +for China, where he had accepted a position as school-teacher on the +banks of the Yangtse; there he would preside over a room full of +Chinese boys about seven hours every day, while they monotonously +swayed backward and forward to the droning of their "study voices" in +the characteristic Chinese fashion.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>Bob's friend showed the letter. He had no more sympathy for Bob's +reasons than the bunch had; it was "simply a horrible mess—an +outrageous slaughter of talent." That was what they decided. Bob's +letter had said:</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose you will understand it now; I hope you may, later; +but out there are living (dying, I had better say) about four hundred +and twenty-five millions of people, practically without a knowledge of +Christ. I know Jesus Christ, not only as my Saviour, but as the very +finest and best friend a fellow ever had. I know what the knowledge of +Him can mean to <i>one human life</i>. I know that He wants those people to +meet Him and to know Him as I do. It has suddenly dawned upon me that +I can go over there and help introduce those strangers to my Lord, and +by doing so not only please Him but save them from eternal death.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't be happy at anything else, Gus. Maybe you will smile—if +it doesn't make you mad—but just wait, old fellow; give me time. +Unless I am the worst fooled mortal that ever lived, I have got hold +of the really big job—one that takes all that is in a man. Oh, it's +easy to make money, and it's easy to do some stunt that wins applause; +but after it all, when 'the tumult and the shouting dies,' what have +you got?</p> + +<p>"And what have I got? do you ask? Well, first, I've got about the best +inside feelings you ever could imagine. I've got a happy heart. I've +got the courage of my convictions. But, best of all, I've got my +Master's smile; and one day, if my faith does not <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>fail, and I don't +believe it will, I'll get His 'well done'—and that will be worth it +all.</p> + +<p>"Gus, I wish you were going with me, old fellow. Smile, but think it +over. You will graduate next year. Say, I'm going to expect you. But +in the meantime, remember: Nothing you've got is too fine or too rare +to lay down in service to Jesus Christ!"</p> + +<p>Fellows, that was fifteen years ago. Want to take a look at Bob now? +It is a thrilling picture I see. A group of fine buildings—a great +Christian college in China, built for the most part by the Chinese +themselves. Bob is the president of it. He wouldn't swap positions +with the President of the United States, nor would he care to be a +captain of finance or a Supreme Court Judge. Bob has for fifteen years +been "living the life," and it's going finer each year.</p> + +<p>He has had the supreme joy of seeing Christian Chinese business men, +statesmen, and great leaders go out from his college to take their +places of influence and leadership in the affairs of an Empire—in +some respects, particularly in population and undeveloped resources, +the greatest upon earth. Bob himself has been called time and again +into the highest councils of the nation. He is engaged in introducing +men—and through them a great multitude—to his Master, the Lord Jesus +Christ.</p> + +<p>Yes, fellows, boys have alabaster boxes, too—and there's only one +place to break them—at the feet of Jesus.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Mark 14:3-9.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h2>TELLING IT</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, do you know it is impossible for anybody to tell with +words the whole story of the cross. The only way you can tell the +story in its real power is to <i>live it</i>.</p> + +<p>I have heard there was a high-caste Chinese boy, the son of a wealthy +mandarin, governor of one of the Chinese provinces. This father was +very ambitious for his boy, hoping that one day he would succeed him +as chief executive. Therefore to secure for him the most modern and +progressive education, he sent the boy a hundred miles away to a +school on the Great Canal, taught by American missionaries. "To get +the Western learning," he told the boy, but not the foreign devils' +religion.</p> + +<p>The teacher in Yuan Ki's room was a six-footer, a college graduate, +and an athlete. Yuan Ki was much impressed. He secretly admired him, +but was ungraciously curt to him. This was Yuan Ki's way of making the +teacher "keep his distance." But the teacher seemed not to notice it. +He was always kind to Yuan Ki, even as he was to the others.</p> + +<p>One morning at chapel teacher talked about his God. Yuan Ki sneered at +what he told. Actually, teacher had said that his God had come down to +earth and had given up His life on a cross, as a <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>sin-offering for all +people, even His own enemies. Yuan Ki wrote his father about this +"ridiculous story."</p> + +<p>One day Yuan Ki was taken sick with a high fever and placed in the +school hospital. That night as he turned his feverish head from side +to side on the pillow, he felt a cool hand laid on his brow. It was +the teacher. Yuan Ki turned his face away, affecting not to see him. +The second night, he kept the boy's feverish brow cooled with iced +cloths until the fever subsided. Yuan Ki was distressed at the +situation, but all the more determined to ignore the teacher's +kindness.</p> + +<p>At noon recess one day the boys were playing on the sloping grounds +between the school building and the river. It was strictly against the +rules for the boys to go past a certain low wall, toward the water. +But Yuan Ki and Wang To, seeing the teacher sitting near one of the +windows and knowing how it would disturb him, ran over the wall and +jumped on to the deck of a house-boat moored near by. Yuan Ki saw the +teacher look up in alarm and start as if to jump from the window, +which was ten feet from the ground. Yuan Ki ran to the outer end of +the house-boat, intending to jump to the deck of another house-boat +alongside, but in doing so, slipped and fell into the swift current. +The boy could not swim, and after a brief struggle he sank and knew no +more.</p> + +<p>It was two days later that Yuan Ki came to consciousness. He was +puzzled quite a little until he figured out that he was in the +hospital bed again, and it was in the early dawn of the morning. There +seemed to be nobody else in the room. Yuan Ki <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>could see through the +open door, across the hallway, into the large reception room opposite. +There was a long, strange-shaped, box-like thing, with some candles +burning near by. Curiosity getting the better of him, Yuan Ki got up +and crept across the hall. Coming close to the casket, he looked +through the glass cover—and there lay the teacher.</p> + +<p>Just then a hand was laid on Yuan Ki's shoulder, and the nurse hustled +him back to bed, scolding him for his imprudence. "But," said Yuan Ki, +"the teacher—how did he die?"</p> + +<p>"Lie still," said the nurse, "and I will tell you. When you fell into +the water, teacher jumped from that high window to the ground. It +seemed to sprain his ankle, or something, for he limped badly as he +made his way to the water. He reached you just as you went down the +last time, and bore you up. A man ran out on the deck with a boat-hook +and reached for you both. He caught your sleeve and hauled you in, but +the current carried teacher out of reach, and then we saw him sink. He +was an expert swimmer, but the sprain must have caused him to lose +consciousness."</p> + +<p>Yuan Ki's next letter to his father read in part like this: "My +father, my heart is broken, for I shall not see your face again. I +know that what I shall tell you means that your hopes for me will be +crushed and that you will disinherit me; but, oh, my father, I have +learned now what is the love of Christ. Teacher had tried to tell us +about his Christ, who said: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that +a man lay down his life for his friends.'</p> + +<p><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>"And now, my father, there is but one thing for me to do, and that +is, myself, to take the place which this noble servant of his Master +has left vacant—his Master—now my Master, too, for He has accepted +me and I have accepted Him. I have resolved to train to go to my +countrymen and tell them of this wonderful God, the like of whom there +is none other."</p> + +<p>Jesus gave <i>all</i> of Himself for us. We cannot give less than <i>all</i> of +ourselves for Him.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Mark 15:16-47.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h2>READY!</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, once in my life—and only once—I had a chance to shoot +a deer. It was in the Tennessee mountains. A party of us boys +travelled over a rough mountain road all of two days before reaching +the hunting grounds. About daylight of the third day each one of us +was given a "stand," that is, stationed at a point where the game +would likely pass when started by the hounds. The seasoned old guide +cautioned us to keep still and watch. "One thing sartin," said he, +"deer is in thar, an' when they comes out they comes this a-way."</p> + +<p>I had never been deer hunting before. I have never been since. It was +my one opportunity, and as the party left me, to distribute themselves +at other points of vantage along the "run," I took up my stand under +considerable excitement. In an hour I heard the dogs far in the +distance. They were evidently running. That meant the game was +running, too,—how many and in what direction I could only guess.</p> + +<p>Every nerve and muscle was tense with expectation. The music of the +hounds grew fainter. "Evidently circling again," I mused. I was +getting to be quite a huntsman, and chuckled at how David Crocketty my +observations were.</p> + +<p>Another hour I waited. A squirrel came out on a <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>limb, and with its +antics and barking helped me pass the time. A while I watched it, now +and then dropping my eyes to a level for the expected deer. Suddenly, +as I dropped my eyes, the most thrilling sight confronted them. They +nearly popped out—my eyes. There, within fifty feet of me, stood a +magnificent buck.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the picture. His beautiful, keen limbs slightly +quivering, his sleek sides glistening in the slanting rays of the sun +as they throbbed in and out with his rapid panting. His head held +high, the antlers looked like a picture.</p> + +<p>All this had happened in less than five seconds. I only had to veer my +gun two inches. My hand was on the trigger, and with a perfect "bead" +on his left shoulder—right where the old guide had said the night +before was the spot to aim for.</p> + +<p>Snap! left barrel.</p> + +<p>Snap! right barrel.</p> + +<p>Off like the wind, Mr. Buck!</p> + +<p>Fellows, I have never been sicker than I was at that moment, but once. +My sickest was in the next moment, when I unbreached my gun and found +<i>there was no shell in either barrel!</i></p> + +<p>Foolish?</p> + +<p>You can call it any name you please and I won't defend it. Think of me +at the camp-fire that night, fellows.</p> + +<p>Foolish? Yes, I suppose that is the right word. It is a much stronger +word, though, than we realize. Jesus used it in this parable of the +ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom. But He used it to +<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>describe a real tragedy, the greatest tragedy of life; the tragedy of +being unprepared at His coming.</p> + +<p>And when is He coming, fellows? Nobody knows. He has not even told the +angels that secret. We don't have to know it. We only have to be +ready.</p> + +<p>And how to be ready? Simple as A B C, fellows. Just be busy, doing +God's will—or making an honest effort to do it, and asking Him to +help. Anybody can be ready to meet Him when He comes, if he wants to +and will try. Just be doing your work and playing your play, as He +would have you do it.</p> + +<p>But, fellows, it is a big risk to "put off" getting ready. Do it now +while you are young, with all life before you, by saying: "Lord Jesus, +here is my life. Use it in just whatever way you choose. Plan it for +me and help me carry out the plan." That is the way to bag the Big +Game. Some of life's greatest opportunities come but once, and then by +surprise. The happiest and most successful life is the God-planned +life, and a God-planned life never misses the Big Opportunity, because +it is ready—always ready. Ready for life, however long or short it +may be; ready for death whenever that must be; ready for the Coming of +the Lord Himself, which may be any moment, in the twinkling of an eye.</p> + +<p>Are you ready, fellows?</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 25:1-13.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h2>REMEMBERING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, all through the United States some years ago there +sounded a slogan. It was a slogan of hate,—a slogan of revenge. It +was the rallying cry of the Navy, it was shouted by the Army. +Newspapers carried it daily on the front page, alongside their titles; +business houses had it printed on their stationery; it was engraved +upon souvenirs; it hung as a motto upon the walls at many public +gatherings, and it became a household word throughout the nation: +"Remember the Maine!"</p> + +<p>Remember—remember—never forget. And the purpose in remembering was +Retaliation. One night while the United States battleship <i>Maine</i> lay +peacefully at anchor in the harbour of Havana, an explosion tore a +great hole in her hull and she quickly sank, carrying down many +officers and men to sudden death.</p> + +<p>There was hardly any doubt that Spanish officers had from the shore +treacherously exploded a mine underneath the battleship, and later +investigations seemed to confirm this theory. Immediately the United +States, an outraged nation, arose to drive the Spanish army from Cuba +and her navy from American waters, and the spirit of revenge was kept +alive by the slogan, "Remember the Maine!"</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, those are just the cold facts to show <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>how powerfully +can be used the word, Remember—how powerfully to kill and to destroy; +how powerfully to nourish the harsh and cruel side of our natures. Not +that it was wrong for America to lift the Spanish yoke from helpless +Cuba, we are not dealing with that question. That with which we have +to do to-day is the energy and force developed by <i>remembering</i>. Like +dynamite, it can be force for good or for evil. Remembering the taunts +and cruelties of our enemies usually carries us into a cruel and +destructive program.</p> + +<p>I am so glad this lesson presents to us the good side of that really +great word Remember, for to-day it is Remember Jesus. When you link +that Name with a word it transforms it; link that Name with a life and +it transforms it. Jesus Himself gave us the slogan. He was so intent +upon our keeping it in mind that He instituted a feast by which we +might commemorate it.</p> + +<p>Even the food of that supper had a significance: Bread, to represent +His own body nailed upon the cross for us, and wine to represent His +blood which flowed for us. I think, fellows, if you should give your +life to save another, you would not like that one to forget all about +it, would you?</p> + +<p>But Jesus had more than that in mind. He knew that "remembering" would +mean much to you who are trying to live a straight-out Christian life. +Celebrating at stated times by this Remembrance Supper would help you +to remember Him also <i>between times</i>. It is in these between times we +so much need the power which comes by Remembering Jesus.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>Am I downhearted because I have been mistreated? Remember Jesus. He +was most mistreated of all men. Am I feeling that I'd like to "get +even" with somebody and redress a wrong? Remember Jesus. He did not +strike back, but laid down His life for His enemies. Am I feeling that +I cannot hold out in this Christian program? Remember Jesus. He is +right by my side and will help me hold out. Do people seem to +misunderstand me? Remember Jesus. He understands, and that is +sufficient. Does it look as if I am about to make a failure? Remember +Jesus, through whom we are more than conquerors.</p> + +<p>I tell you, fellows, it is the biggest and finest Remember of all, +because it makes us strong, it makes us happy, it enables us to +overcome, it makes us invincible!</p> + +<p>Remember Jesus.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h2>GETTING EVEN</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows! I saw a big touring car sideswipe a Ford runabout and +knock it several feet to one side on the country road. Of course each +of the drivers thought the other was to blame, and a warm argument +followed.</p> + +<p>The big car was unhurt, and proceeded on its way, but the flivver had +its running board and fender badly battered. While the young fellow of +the runabout examined to see what further damage his car might have +sustained, the prosperous-looking gentleman was speeding up the +highway, chuckling over his own car's escape from injury.</p> + +<p>I asked the man of the Ford if his engine had suffered. No, he thought +it was all right; he would crank up and see. Good! She started off +with a clutter, and he asked me if I wanted to ride. I had not far to +go, but gladly accepted, for I was rather struck with this young +fellow's grip on himself. It took self-control to avoid making the air +blue with abuse. The way that big fellow had hurried on, leaving the +runabout in trouble, was certainly not on the square, to say the +least.</p> + +<p>A turn in the road brought a fresh surprise. There was the touring +car, a hundred yards ahead, standing in the middle of the road, hood +up, and the big man <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>peering into the engine. There was room to pass, +and I wondered what the man at the wheel in the runabout would do. +Would the little car rattle past with its damaged fender? It would be +only human nature to sing out some sort of a taunt: "Thought you were +in a hurry!" or "Don't block the road!"—and yet this young fellow did +not seem to be that kind. His self-control during the incident back +there in the road made me expect something different, and I was not +disappointed. The runabout did pass, but stopped ten yards ahead, and +my companion got out.</p> + +<p>"Engine trouble? Need any help?"</p> + +<p>The big fellow's face was a puzzle, as he looked up with a worried +grin and mopped his brow with a grease-smeared hand. Yes, there was +engine trouble, and it was serious.</p> + +<p>To make a long story short, when last I saw them as they turned the +curve of the road ahead, the big car's front axle was connected by a +chain to the rear of the runabout as it chugged away in low gear +dragging the big one to the nearest garage.</p> + +<p>Say, fellows! it takes a dead game sport to do a trick like that. Any +cheap skate can whiz past and give his enemy in trouble the +hard-boiled eye, but it takes a fine soul to be generous when the +natural impulse calls for spite work.</p> + +<p>In the small hours of that fine morning, as Saul slept and as his +guards were heavy with sleep about him, David put one over on his +pursuer—an act of kindness which overwhelmed him with shame. David +had not only to fight a natural impulse to get even, but he had with +him an adviser who used the most <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>persuasive arguments to induce him +to take Saul's life. Indeed, Abishai proposed to do the deed himself, +as though that would leave David clear of guilt in the matter. But no, +David was a man of principle, and he knew three very vital things:</p> + +<p>1. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," said the Lord.</p> + +<p>2. A magnanimous spirit wins, and no sad regrets cloud the victory.</p> + +<p>3. He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read twenty-sixth chapter of 1 Samuel and Romans 12:20-21.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h2>GREATNESS</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, if I should make up an unusually good story about you, +some noble thing you did, or some kind and generous act, to whom +should I tell it, to be sure it would be believed? Yes, I see you know +of whom I am thinking—your mother. I might tell your brother and +sister, and they would say: "Phew! are you sure it was Dick?" I might +tell your employer, and his eyes would roam around over the objects on +his desk; or your teacher, and he would look at the sky and say: +"Think it will rain?" I might tell your father, and he would be +grateful—but surprised! But let me tell your mother! There I would +find one who is ready to believe anything good I would say about you.</p> + +<p>I tell you, fellows, a mother is a wonderful gift to a boy, for her +prayers alone. Long before you learned to say, "Now I lay me down to +sleep," she was praying that you would be a great and good man some +day. Those prayers of mothers have kept many a boy from going wrong. +One night in a great city where I had gone to find work I had fallen +in with some young fellows who "knew the ropes," and being far from +home and lonesome I was glad to accept their companionship. They +invited me to join them in an "evening lark" to which no loyal +Christian <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>would lend himself, and though I was a nominal Christian I +was tempted sorely. I regarded myself as "my own man," having just +turned twenty-one.</p> + +<p>But just as I wavered between right and wrong, my mother's face +flashed before me. It was only for an instant, but it was enough. I +heard her voice, heard it in prayer. That night a thousand miles away +she was praying for me, and saved me from what might have been a fatal +step. I firmly believe, fellows, but for my mother's prayers that +night and many nights, before and since, I should not now be enjoying +the privilege of talking about the great things of life and the +Kingdom to you.</p> + +<p>Treasure that dear mother, if you have one, fellows; she is God's +peculiar gift.</p> + +<p>Well, James and John had such a mother, and she did the most natural +and motherly kind of a thing. She wanted <i>her boys</i> to go away up +high; they must even stand in the highest places, on the right and +left hand of the King in His glory. Like all mothers, she was +ambitious for her boys.</p> + +<p>Then Jesus in His wonderful way explained that the road to true +greatness was not that which the world was following, in which those +in power and authority were overbearing masters to their inferiors; +but it is a path of service to mankind, a path already blazed by +Himself. Last night in the local evening paper I saw these headlines: +<span class="smcap">Chattanooga Doctor Attains Eminence</span>. The article stated that +a very remarkable invention for the removal of foreign particles from +the lungs or bronchial tubes, such as might be accidentally swallowed, +had been successfully <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>demonstrated before a national medical society, +and had been written up in the <i>American Medical Journal</i>; it was said +that the discovery had brought great honour to the doctor in the world +of medicine.</p> + +<p>That was the recognition, but what had preceded? Days and nights at +bedsides of suffering; days and nights in the laboratory; days and +nights of study to relieve pain; hours of weariness unknown to the +world, but borne on by the thought of doing a service to humanity. And +do you suppose the final publicity is what rewards this doctor? +Hardly. A reporter on his local city paper sought an interview, after +the far-away medical journal had published the first news, but the +doctor, in his service overalls in the midst of treating his patients, +declined the interview, saying it would involve a technical +description which the general public would hardly be interested in. +Then it was "Good-morning," and the doctor returned to his work.</p> + +<p>True greatness does not care to make one dash to fame, then loaf in +its glory.</p> + +<p>The thing our great Commander wants us to be earnest about is doing +our best, wherever the place of service. He will look after the +reward. He is even more ambitious for us than our mothers are.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 20:20-28.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h2>"PAW, I WANTA BE SOMEBODY!"</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, away back in the mountains of western North Carolina, +far up on the mountainside, at the head of a cove, there lived a +fifteen-year-old boy. He had sisters and brothers and parents, but +they dwelt in a little tumble-down shack and were wretchedly poor. +Jake was the oldest of the children, and he had to work hard in the +little patch of corn on the steep mountainside, which barely yielded a +crop.</p> + +<p>Down the path a mile or so there was a little log schoolhouse where a +lady teacher gave some of the mountain children lessons in "readin', +ritin', and 'rithmetic." Jake had passed and repassed that schoolhouse +many times and wished that he might "go thar and larn," but Jake was +too important a hand on "the farm" to "waste enny time at sich"—so +thought his parents, neither of whom could read or write. "An' Jake +was pow'ful handy 'bout fixin' things, like tools en sich."</p> + +<p>One day, when "the crop" was pretty well "laid by," Jake came to the +shack and, throwing his hoe into the corner, said: "Paw, I wanta be +Somebody!" Then Jake went on to say he had been thinking that now the +corn was in shape to go ahead and make <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>what it would, he "might put +in some time ev'y day at the schoolhouse a-larnin' how to read and +write."</p> + +<p>"But y'ain't got nothin' to buy books," was suggested.</p> + +<p>"I'll see 'bout that 'ar," said Jake.</p> + +<p>Next morning when the teacher arrived, Jake was waiting at the +schoolhouse door.</p> + +<p>"Teacher," said he, "I ain't got no money to buy books, but I kin git +up the wood ev'y day for the stove, 'n I kin sweep out the schoolhouse +'n keep it clean—cain't ye loan me a book 'n let me come 'n larn?"</p> + +<p>Jake's terms were accepted. No boy was ever prouder of a university +scholarship than Jake was of that chance to "larn" in the little +mountain schoolhouse. Jake went after "larnin'" as a boy goes for pie +at the picnic dinner.</p> + +<p>A few months later, the school was visited by the superintendent of +one of the large North Carolina mountain mission schools. When the +teacher told him about Jake, he offered him an opportunity to enter +the mission school and succeeded in persuading his parents to let him +go. Jake was put to work taking care of the farm machinery in the +agricultural department of the mission, but with ample time to pursue +his studies in the schoolroom.</p> + +<p>It was noticed that he had special aptitude for fixing the farm +implements and adjusting the parts—even making some of the missing +parts at the old blacksmith forge. The superintendent was so impressed +with this that as soon as Jake's education had made pretty fair +progress, he secured him a position <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>in the dynamo room of a large +manufacturing plant in a near-by town. Jake had accepted Jesus Christ +as his Saviour and Master while at the mission school, owned his +Bible, read it faithfully every day, and was a consistent young +Christian.</p> + +<p>It was a triumph for Jake, when he got a discarded dynamo out of its +corner and saved the purchase of a new machine. His employers soon saw +that he was entitled to even a better chance than they could give him, +and after they had some correspondence with a great electrical +manufacturing firm in New England, Jake one day bade farewell to his +"Tarheel" friends and took a north-bound train.</p> + +<p>At the great electrical plant, his career was continuously upward.</p> + +<p>It takes five figures to name his salary. Every Sunday morning you +will see Jake and his family get into their big car and motor into the +city, where Jake teaches a large and enthusiastic class of young men.</p> + +<p>The mountain boy has realized his wish: he is Somebody!</p> + +<p>No fellow can do a finer thing than make his life count as a force in +Christianizing the nation—to make it stand out a shining light, +pointing the world to Christ. And one effective way to do that is to +apply himself, with a Christ-loving heart, to the opportunity that +comes to his hands to build himself up in a Christian way and in a +business way. For good business and Christian integrity are twin screw +propellers.</p> + +<p>The fellow that gets the good job, the fellow that suddenly finds +himself in a position of power and <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>privileged service to his world +about him is the fellow who is found faithful to the smaller work or +the smaller opportunity that lies next to his hand.</p> + +<p>Oh, fellows, it is the only life!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 25:14-30.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h2>"LET DOWN YOUR FEET!"</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, something happened two summers ago at a well-known +resort in the mountains, which even at this late day it quickens my +pulse to recall. I was one of the very few eyewitnesses of the +"tragedy," and it nearly put me to bed with nervous prostration. It +was about twilight one evening when I passed near the lake on my way +to our cottage for supper.</p> + +<p>The gay throng of swimmers had apparently all dispersed to the hotels +and cottages for the evening meal and preparation for the concert in +the auditorium. That lake was a very popular place in the afternoon; +there were accommodations for all grades of swimmers—from the expert +divers who used the platform, spring-board, and tall diving ladder on +the deep side, to the smallest children, who paddled and waded in the +shallow water under the watchful care of their nurses on the other +side. The lake was not over a hundred yards wide at the widest.</p> + +<p>I was just noting how deserted and quiet was the place which only a +few moments before had been fairly alive with a happy throng of sport +lovers, little and big, when I saw coming toward the platform from the +bath house a tall, thin man in his bathing suit. He looked so pale and +weak and thin that I <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>wondered if he could possibly be thinking of +going into that cold water at that time of evening and <i>alone</i>!</p> + +<p>I had not long to be in doubt about it, for straight out on the +platform he went and then <i>on the spring-board</i>! He lifted his arms +above his head and pointed his hands together as a man going to dive. +The man looked so weak and thin that I felt positive he would not be +able to swim in that water, so chilled by the mountain springs that +fed it. I wondered if he knew how cold it was and how weak he was.</p> + +<p>Should I run the risk of "butting in," and warn him? Suppose I did not +and he should begin to sink, could I jump in that fifteen-foot water +with my clothes on and save him? These thoughts flashed rapidly +through my mind, but in the twinkling of an eye he was off the +spring-board, head downward into the water.</p> + +<p>I held my breath and waited for him to rise. It seemed he had gone to +the bottom and stuck there; the water became actually smooth again, +and almost still, where he had disappeared. I thought he would never +come up. My heart jumped into my throat.</p> + +<p>Then he came up—very near where he had gone down—and faintly struck +out swimming. I thought of course he would at once make for the piers +of the platform; surely a fellow swimming as weakly as that, all +alone, and in water cold and deep, would not risk himself far from +shore. But, to my amazement, he was apparently starting for the other +side!</p> + +<p>It was then I discovered I was not the only witness. On the other side +of the lake, down close to the water's edge, and watching with evident +anxiety, was <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>a lady. It was easy to see by her movements that she had +a strong personal interest in the swimmer's actions, and that she was +very anxiously watching him. She had evidently come down to keep him +company, or as a precaution, while he took his solitary evening swim.</p> + +<p>These things, which were taken in at a glance, coupled with the fact +that the swimmer was plainly growing weaker and making very poor +progress, confirmed all my apprehensions, and I was just thinking I +must quickly take measures for his relief when I saw coming out of the +bath house on a dead run, two husky young fellows in bathing suits, +making for the spring-board.</p> + +<p>At the same time the lady shouted: "Father! Father! can you make it?"</p> + +<p>The swimmer gurgled something which sounded like, "No."</p> + +<p>He had gotten about half-way across and was merely struggling to keep +his head above water. The two huskies went off the spring-board so +close one behind the other that it looked foolhardy, and struck out +rapidly for the drowning man, but he had gone down his second time +already.</p> + +<p>It was a race between life and death. I said: "They will never reach +him in time." The lady screamed. Then a new voice broke upon the still +evening air. A boy over on the walkway by the dam shouted at the top +of his lungs: "<i>Mister! Let down your feet!</i>" The struggling man heard +it; he did let down his feet, rose up about waist deep in the water +<i>and walked out</i>!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>Fellows, as I walked on up the hill toward supper, trying to work my +heart back down where it belonged, I did some tall thinking. Had <i>I</i> +ever "drowned" in shallow water? Sure, I had. The great big things God +has planned for you and me to do seem impossible because we do not +take into account that they are to be done through God's power and not +our own.</p> + +<p>We summon the nerve to tackle the task, but, forgetting Him, like +Peter trying to walk on the water, we sink. We foolishly try to do the +thing in our own strength, when there at our hand is the great power +of Almighty God just waiting to flow through us and accomplish it +gloriously.</p> + +<p>Oh, fellows, if you would just let down your feet on the mighty power +of God, you would walk out of all your difficulty. Here is a great +overpowering temptation getting the best of you—and you, drowning in +shallow water.</p> + +<p>Let down your feet! Here is an inspiring challenge out of God's Word, +to put forth your hand and heart and mind and help win the world for +Him. You are tempted to say: "Who am I?" Let down your feet, and +you'll see who you are. You are a child of God, through whom He is +willing to do mighty works.</p> + +<p>And you will rise upon your feet, you poor, weak fellow, and you will +hold aloft the Banner of the Cross, and you will achieve for God in a +way that will set all the bells of heaven ringing.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 28:16-20.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h2>AN "UNASSISTED TRIPLE PLAY"</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, when that "Indian," Wambganss, put three men out with +one unassisted play in the world's series and retired the Brooklyn +Dodgers with bases full, twenty thousand frantic Cleveland fans rose +as one man and sent up a yell that sounded like the roar of Niagara. +It comes but once in a generation for a lone baseball player to make +an "unassisted triple play" in a world's series, and doubtless that +night the Cleveland second baseman was the most envied baseball player +in the world. For one man to do, alone, what thousands of onlookers +could not do, was enough to turn all fandom topsy-turvy in a delirium +of amazement.</p> + +<p>There is something in you and me, fellows, that leaps to its feet and +screeches with delight when we see any one rise to the demands of a +crisis and do the fine thing. Now, I want you to turn to a place in +the Bible where is described a finer thing than could happen in any +world's series. It has always seemed to me to be about the most +wonderful event that ever happened. It is John's account of one of the +most wonderful miracles that Jesus performed.</p> + +<p>More than five thousand hungry people lingered on the hillsides near +the lake shore, and there was nothing for them to eat. Jesus was +testing His men that <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>day to see how far they had recognized His +divine power. He turned to Philip and said: "Where shall we get food +for them?" Philip did not know it was a test question; neither did he +realize that Jesus could turn every blade of grass to a loaf of bread +if He chose to do so. Therefore, Philip replied: "I do not know, Lord; +it looks as if they will have to go home hungry."</p> + +<p>Now Andrew was casting about to see what he might discover to help out +the situation, and his eye fell upon a boy standing near by with a +rather familiar shaped bundle in the folds of his tunic. Andrew +sniffed, and saw the tails of two dried fish sticking through. Andrew +had a long nose for fish. He knew what it was: the boy had brought a +lunch with him.</p> + +<p>"How many barley cakes have you, son?" inquired Andrew. "Five," +answered the boy. "Wait a minute," said Andrew. Something had flashed +into his mind. It was a big moment for Andrew; he was on the verge of +doing a fine thing, himself, and he stepped quickly to where Jesus +stood.</p> + +<p>"Master!" he said, his eyes snapping with the very thought of what +<i>might happen</i>—"Master, there's a lad here with five barley cakes and +two small fishes—" and (oh, the tragedy of it!) then he must have +caught Philip's hard-boiled eye. He must have thought, "Now, Philip is +saying I'm a fool for suggesting such a thing—and I guess I am"; for +he quickly added "—<i>but what are they among so many?</i>"</p> + +<p>Jesus calmly turned His eyes on Andrew, as though <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>He said: +"Almost!—Andrew—almost did your faith win a victory; make the men +sit down on the grass, and bring the lad's lunch to me."</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, I can imagine Andrew going back to that boy and saying, +"Son, the Master has need of this food you have brought; shall I take +it to Him?" And this boy's first thought, naturally, was: "Then, what +will I do? I'm a long way from home; I'm hungry, and I was just fixing +to eat it myself—but—"</p> + +<p>The boy had been listening to Jesus as He talked to the crowd. He had +seen those wonderful eyes melting with compassion. His own eyes had +feasted upon that majestic countenance, and his ears had tingled, and +his boyish heart thrilled with the marvellous words which fell from +the Master's lips. "Surely," he had thought, "this <i>must</i> be the +Messiah, for no other could speak like Him, nor work these marvellous +cures." So quickly he brushed aside his self-interest, and held out +the little bundle of fishes and bread.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, watch—What?—a triple play at a world series and twenty +thousand fans leaping and yelling like mad? Bless you, no. Something +happened right then which will be remembered a millennium after +baseball has been forgotten. Jesus took the boy's lunch and fed five +thousand hungry men, besides women and children, until they could eat +no more.</p> + +<p>I have many times tried to picture in my imagination that glad and +astonished boy. His eyes must have nearly popped out when he saw what +was going <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>on, the Master giving out the bread and fishes—and the +bread and fishes <i>never giving out</i>!</p> + +<p>And the big news to-day, fellows, is that you and I can make a play +like that. No matter what it is you've got in your hand, let Jesus use +it. He can do more with it than we can. No matter whether it is much +or little, give it to Him. In fact, that's the way to save it and make +the most of it. He said so (Luke 9:24) Himself; give it to Him. It +matters not so much <i>what</i> it is in your hand; the thing that matters +is <i>what you do with it</i>. Give it to Him. You may not hear the +bleachers roar over your gift, but, listen, fellows, when a life is +surrendered to Christ the battlements of heaven ring with a shout that +encircles God's throne, and the score is for Eternity!</p> + +<p>Fellows, let's play the <span class="smcap">real game</span>.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read John 6:5-14.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h2>FORGIVING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I want you to take a look at Simon Peter to-day. He is +as interesting as a fast game of volley ball. And he did get some hot +ones handed to him. Impulsive fellow that he was, he was always +getting his foot into it. Peter was a plunger; he wanted to <i>do +things</i>, and do them right now. Loyal soul—he would fight for his +friend at the drop of a hat; but he was subject to fits of depression, +and at such times his heart would fail him, or he would lose his grip +on himself and do something to regret sorely afterward.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, Jesus loved Peter with a mighty love, and He spent much +time helping him to gain self-control and learn to be a steady, +thoroughgoing, dependable Christian. Many times Jesus had to call him +down sharply. Once He even called Peter "Satan" (see Mark 8:33). It +really was Satan to whom Jesus spoke—Satan operating in Peter, as he +operates in you and me sometimes when we are weak enough to permit it; +but it must have been an awful jolt to Peter to get that from his +Master.</p> + +<p>Peter gradually improved. He was making an honest effort to be the man +he ought to be; but there one thing which gave him more trouble than +<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>anything else. He got to the point where he could close his jaws +tight and keep from calling down the fellow who made him mad, but he +couldn't keep from surging inside. He would surge when he went to bed, +and he would be still surging when he got up—all inside. After a +while he got to where he could forgive, but when the offense was +repeated it was "all off," and Peter would find himself surging again. +Now the second surging was just as uncomfortable and made him feel as +mean as the first, so Peter began to wonder just what would be the +limit, according to Jesus' idea, to which a man must forgive and then +surge and feel good over it. You see, Peter was trying to train by the +rules of Jesus, so it was quite the proper thing for him to ask Jesus +about it when in doubt. A good sport is always ready to listen to the +Coach.</p> + +<p>Jesus was teaching the Golden Rule, the law of kindness and of +good-will. He had just been showing how to make peace with one who has +done you an injury, when Peter spoke up and asked the question which +brought forth one of Jesus' most remarkable parables. Peter said: +"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? +until seven times?"</p> + +<p>Seven times! Think of that. It was going some, wasn't it? Doubtless +Peter thought so. Perhaps he said to himself: "Well, for once I have +proposed something which will show the Lord that I have learned to be +a longsuffering Peter. Just imagine it: Forgave him Sunday; he +repeated the offense Monday, and I forgave him again; also the same on +Tuesday. <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>He deliberately did that dirty trick again on Wednesday, and +I still stood my ground on the forgiving program. Thursday and Friday +the rascal repeated the offense, and I forgave, and did it again on +Saturday; that was seven times, and lo! when Sunday came the +ungrateful wretch was at it again, and I'm done. Seven times! It was a +wonderful test of my control, and I shall present it to the Lord—"</p> + +<p>And what did Jesus say? Why, Peter must have staggered under that +answer, for it revealed to him far more than the "four hundred and +ninety times" program. In the light of that parable in Matthew +18:21-35, it revealed to Peter that God had already forgiven so much +that was sinful in him that he might just as well settle down to a +program of forgiving his brother every day for the balance of his +life, if he did not want to forfeit the forgiveness of God. No more +surging for Peter.</p> + +<p>And that is what the lesson means for you and for me to-day. A +missionary once said, "We cannot outgive God." It is quite as true +that we cannot out-forgive God. And, moreover, we dare not harbour +unforgiveness in our hearts against any fellow-being, for when we do +it we are dangerously close to the edge of a fearful precipice, where +one slip would put us—with the Tormentors.</p> + +<p>Let's all shake hands—hard!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 18:21-35.</i><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h2>PARADOX</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, do you know what a paradox is? It is something which +seems to contradict itself. I saw a man hold in his hand something +worth one hundred dollars. I would have been willing to give him one +hundred dollars for it. He destroyed it right before my eyes; yet his +action caused nobody any loss. Now there is a paradox, and it seems +quite puzzling, doesn't it? It looks quite impossible, you may say. +But the explanation is very simple. What the man held in his hand was +his own check on the bank. He had made a slight scratch on it which +did not affect its value, only its neatness, and he preferred to tear +it to pieces and rewrite it.</p> + +<p>Here now in the eleventh chapter of Matthew, our Lord in His +impressive way is teaching in a paradox, and you may mark it well, for +it indicates a specially important proposition. He says: "Come unto +me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. +Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in +heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." It seems queer that in +coming in answer to that invitation you should have a yoke to put on.</p> + +<p>But your first wrong impression is that the Lord is sorry for folks +who work. Not at all; work is a <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>blessed privilege. Pity the poor +idler, not the worker. Be sorry for him who is by any cause debarred +from working, not for the red-blooded fellow who is feeling the thrill +of accomplishing something. Our Lord is sorry for those who are "heavy +laden" while they work—laden with worry, with anxiety, with fears and +forebodings—yes, even with a guilty conscience.</p> + +<p>Then the yoke. Who would think of a yoke in connection with rest? I +suppose you fellows have seen oxen wearing yokes. They do not look +very restful, do they? Yet Jesus clearly says His yoke is "easy"! +Well, let's see.</p> + +<p>For a moment, think of life as a great game. In many respects it is +just that. It takes skill and wit and patience and determination to +win the ordinary game; also the willingness to take a lot of +punishment at times. There are three things about the game of life +which are like all other games: (1) We must either win or lose; (2) +there is uncertainty; and (3) we all want to win. But there are also +three things true of the life game which are not true about other +games.</p> + +<p>The first of these three dissimilarities is that in the life game you +have got to play whether you will or no. You can beg off from a game +of tennis, or baseball, or dominoes; but the life game you have got to +play, willing or unwilling, sick or well, fit or not fit. There's no +choice; you've got to play—<i>you are already playing.</i></p> + +<p>Second, you must play against an adversary who is not only more +skillful, more speedy, more enduring, <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>but is <i>invisible</i>, and whom, +humanly speaking, it is absolutely impossible to beat. Such a game! +Such an adversary!</p> + +<p>But the third dissimilarity is the most remarkable of all, and it is +the shot which carries the big news to-day,—there is a rule by which +you can certainly win. Can you say that about any other game? In other +games, your rival can apply the rule as well as you, but in the game +of life the rule is only available for you, and it is an absolutely +sure winner. Turn to your Bibles and look at it, in the twenty-fourth +verse of the ninth chapter of Luke: "Whosoever will save his life +shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same +shall save it."</p> + +<p>Losing your life for Jesus—which simply means <i>investing</i> it for Him. +Whatever you do, do that thing in His name and in a way worthy of Him. +Your <i>life</i>, you know, is simply made up of the events of the +twenty-four hours of each day. Invest each event with Jesus. That +means your play as well as work. It means clean play and good hard +playing to win, but in the way Christ would approve, honest, fair, +chivalrous—and it is true sport, I tell you. That is a part of what +it means, wearing Jesus' yoke, simply doing the thing as Jesus would +do it.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 11:28-30.</i><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h2>FRAUD</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, the greatest circus man who ever lived said the American +people like to be humbugged, and proceeding on that theory, P.T. +Barnum got together more animals and performers and freaks under +canvas than had ever been seen before. He made a tremendous fortune. +There is something in human nature which makes us an easy mark for any +pretentious thing that comes down the pike with banners flying. The +bigger the claim and the larger the figures, the more readily we fall +for it, but simple things must be proved.</p> + +<p>When we are told there are 290,680,493,115 stars we accept it without +question, but if there is a sign saying "<span class="smcap">fresh paint</span>" we +touch the paint with our fingers to see if it is really so.</p> + +<p>Fellows, there is a big sign posted all over the country, carrying in +large letters the two words, "It satisfies." It is the expensive +advertising propaganda of cigarette manufacturers, and the +"satisfaction" they are offering you is that brief and fleeting +sensation of being doped, so that "stern realities are changed to +pleasant seemings." It matters not to them that your health and morals +and money and life pay the cost, just so they sell their product. +<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>They tell you cigarettes "satisfy." It is a preposterous fake. They +do not satisfy—they produce further craving—and they know that that +craving grows, until the habit is formed and their "satisfied" victim +becomes a hopeless slave—known as a cigarette fiend. There is only +one drawback for the cigarette manufacturer, his consumer is too short +lived; the cigarette devitalizes, pauperizes, and destroys. Like the +shock troops of the German army, they must be continually +recruited—recruited in numbers which almost stagger the imagination.</p> + +<p>Did you know, fellows, that to keep up the consumption of cigarettes +at the present rate of manufacture there must be <i>two thousand</i> new +smokers <i>daily</i> to contract the habit? Nearly all these new smokers +must be boys, for men are not fooled into this practice so easily.</p> + +<p>In a village I recently saw a large bill-board sign at the top of +which in bold letters were the words, <span class="smcap">Wanted: One Million +Recruits</span>! Upon reading farther, I found it was the advertisement +of a certain brand of cigarettes, and the manufacturers boldly stated +that the "one million recruits" were wanted to join the large and +growing army of "delighted smokers" of their "richly blended" +cigarette.</p> + +<p>You don't have to fall for it. You do not <i>have</i> to be one of the two +thousand daily new recruits to the cigarette manufacturer's army of +shock troops.</p> + +<p>But the sly wolf comes in disguise, and in this case the disguise is +"satisfaction" offered. Once the wolf gets its victim it throws off +the disguise and stops talking about "satisfaction," but simply hands +<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>the "coffin tacks" across the counter, and takes your money, health, +morals, success, and real satisfaction, in exchange, while you—well, +you proceed to drive the tacks, one by one.</p> + +<p>Says the cigarette: "I am not much of a mathematician, perhaps, but I +can <span class="smcap">add</span> nervous trouble; I can <span class="smcap">subtract</span> from +physical energy; I can <span class="smcap">multiply</span> aches and pains; I can +<span class="smcap">divide</span> the mental powers; I can take <span class="smcap">interest</span> from +work and I can <span class="smcap">discount</span> chances for success."</p> + +<p>Dr. Heald, writing in <i>Life and Health</i>, says cigarettes are in many +cases the direct cause of cancer, blindness, deafness, heart disease +and dyspepsia. He further says they dwarf the body, benumb the brain +and weaken character.</p> + +<p>That cigarettes "hinder the development of the body" is testified to +by the following physical directors of universities: Drs. Seaver and +Anderson, of Yale; Dr. Hitchcock, of Ambrose; Dr. Meylin, of +Columbia—as a result of repeated and careful measurements both of +smokers and non-smokers.</p> + +<p>Judge Ben Lindsey says: "No pure-minded, honest, manly, brave boy will +smoke a cigarette."</p> + +<p>"Home-Run" Baker says: "I do not smoke—never did. If any youngster +wants advice from one who doesn't mean to preach, there it is: Leave +cigarettes alone!"</p> + +<p>Dr. Coffin, of the Whittier Reform School, says: "Of the 1,700 boys +who have been inmates of this institution, 1,670 were cigarette +smokers!"</p> + +<p><i>There</i> is "satisfaction" for you; no, not for you, but only +satisfaction for the cigarette manufacturer <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>and dealer, such +satisfaction as comes from ill-gotten gains, which after all cannot be +permanent.</p> + +<p>Yes, "it satisfies"—the cigarette,—it satisfies—satisfies the +devil, and <i>he</i> laughs, and <i>his</i> is the only real long laugh that the +cigarette affords.</p> + +<p>The cigarette-tree is known by its fruit. Cut it out.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + +<h2>THE BIG TASK</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, some years ago France gave a man a large task. The man's +name was De Lesseps, and the task was to cut a ditch seventy-two feet +wide across Panama, to unite the two great oceans. Part of the cutting +was to be through hills two hundred and fifty feet high. It was a big +order, and although De Lesseps had the resources of a great republic +back of him, he failed to deliver. Aside from the gigantic feat of +digging and removing stone and earth, there were malaria and yellow +fever in the swamps, which killed thousands of labourers, and there +were theft and bribery in the financial management, which swallowed up +the money. These things were like giants invincible, blocking the way +against success.</p> + +<p>Twenty-two years later the United States tackled that same job. +General Goethals was sent to Panama, and he put it through. Himself a +skillful engineer, confident of the success of the enterprise, and +with all the resources of Uncle Sam back of him, he set to work. +Surgeon-General Gorgas stamped out yellow fever and malaria by +draining the swamps and eliminating the mosquito, making the canal +zone practically a health resort.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>Thus, with unlimited financial power, the latest discoveries of +science and invention, skill, and an ample supply of labour, coupled +with faith in the plan and an unconquerable spirit, the man cut +through, two oceans came together, and the world's commerce passed +back and forth in an endless stream.</p> + +<p>It was a big order, nobly executed.</p> + +<p>Yet, fellows, there was an infinitely bigger order given to those +twelve faithful, believing men, when our Lord calmly told them to go +out and do five things, namely: "Preach the Gospel, heal the sick, +cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils"—infinitely +bigger, in that it required infinitely more power. Jesus furnished the +power, the disciples furnished the faith and effort, and the five +things were done.</p> + +<p>There was the malaria of sin in the way, and mountains of unbelief, +but they <i>cut through</i>, and the ocean of God's love, on one side, and +the ocean of man's need, on the other, were united!</p> + +<p>Had you thought of it, fellows, that every Christian is challenged and +commissioned to do a big, hard task for Jesus? The task is big and +hard because it requires Almighty Power, but Jesus supplies the power. +Our part is simply to throw ourselves into the job. We hesitate +because we forget that God gives no task but that He sees us through, +and the bigger and harder the job the more abundant and free is the +supply of power. Our part is to <i>proceed</i>. He will see that we +succeed. We take a step at a time; we go by the blueprints while He +holds the future in His hand.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a></p> +<span class="i0">"A man went down to Panama,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where many men had died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To slip the sliding mountain<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And lift the eternal tide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A man went down to Panama,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the mountain stood aside."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That's the poetry of it, fellows, but the practical prose is like +this:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A shovel.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pick.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dig.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dig.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 17:14-21.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII</h2> + +<h2>POWER</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, Marconi has succeeded in lighting an incandescent bulb +eight miles away without the use of a wire. It is the transmission of +power by wireless. Experiments have also been successful in +electrically guiding, starting, and stopping, without visible +connection, a torpedo or even a battleship from the land or from a +ship. The human voice has been projected through the ether from +Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, by wireless telephone.</p> + +<p>These things are sufficiently marvellous to make us gasp—and yet how +far they fall short of the things which Jesus did, as recorded in the +eighth and ninth chapters of Matthew. The centurion's servant was sick +some distance away. It would have been miracle enough if Jesus had +gone to him, touched him, and healed him; but Jesus met a new brand of +faith in the centurion, and He more than matched it with a new sample +of His divine power.</p> + +<p>He simply spoke, and the man in the distance was instantly made well. +In Hebrews 1:3 you will find this phrase: "By the word of his power." +It was that word which created the universe; by that word He had +created the centurion's servant; and now by that same wonder of +wonders He reaches through <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>space and re-creates; He lifts the sick +man off his bed, twelve miles away (it might just as well have been +thousands of miles), puts him on his feet, sound and well, and serving +his master!</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, you and I can link up to that power, and we only have to +apply for a connection; we need not make a journey to get it. When we +want light or fuel gas or a telephone in our home, we simply apply for +it; the company connects the house with the supply mains, and the +power comes within reach of our hands. But here is divine power +available, and we do not get it because we do not ask for it.</p> + +<p>The centurion had unusual faith when he believed Jesus could command +the forces of nature and be obeyed, just as he [the centurion] could +command his household servants and be obeyed, and Jesus met that faith +in a marvellously unusual way. You and I are continually making +mistakes and failures and "messing things up." We want to be a success +in life. We want everything we undertake, in work or play, to "pan +out" well. But unseen forces are at work to hinder, and circumstances +intervene which we cannot control. Here's the magic secret: link up +with Jesus' power.</p> + +<p>I asked a modest tennis player how he had managed to win out in the +finals against an opponent who was much his superior in skill and +training. He replied: "I'm afraid I took an 'unfair' advantage of +him—I prayed to win"; and he smiled. I heard of a famous quarterback +on one of the big 'varsity teams who linked his game with prayer and +got unusual power in the play. And why not?</p> + +<p><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>But there is more to the secret. To make that "linking up" effective, +it must be accompanied by complete surrender of the life to Jesus' +authority. Power is unsafe unless divinely controlled—worse than +that, it is fatal.</p> + +<p>Let's put the whole matter in Jesus' hands, and we'll have a great +time!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read John 4:46-54.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXIII" id="XXXIII"></a>XXXIII</h2> + +<h2>CHRISTMAS</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, when it was announced in the Edison home seventy-three +years ago that a boy was born, and his name was Tom, it was a great +day for the world. It was a great day for you and for me—though we +were not yet born. Think a minute how it would be without the electric +light, now illuminating every city and town in the world—at the touch +of a button in millions of homes and halls and offices and factories +turning darkness into day. It is wonderful that the birth of one boy +named Tom should mean so much to the world. Yet who can say that had +Edison not been born none would have discovered the incandescent lamp?</p> + +<p>It was another wonderful day when Mr. and Mrs. Watt announced the +birth of their son James—a wonderful day for the world and for you +and me. Think of how many ways steam power, through manufacture and +transportation, adds to our comfort and pleasure. Yet who can say that +no man would have discovered and harnessed this giant to serve mankind +if James Watt had not seen the light of day?</p> + +<p>Still another wonderful day it was when the Bells announced the birth +of a boy whom they named <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>Alexander Graham—a wonderful day for the +world and for you and me. How would we get on without the telephone? +Yet who can say that no one would have invented the telephone if +Alexander Graham Bell had not been born?</p> + +<p>But, oh, fellows, the supreme birthday of all time was that which was +announced by the angels to the shepherds watching their flocks by +night in the Judean fields; it was that birthday signalled by a +glorious star to the Wise-men who came to Bethlehem with gifts of gold +and frankincense and myrrh. The birth of Jesus means more to the world +and to you and me than all the other birthdays combined. Those other +birthdays brought material blessings. The coming of Jesus into the +world not only made possible the highest enjoyment of all material +blessing, but—far more important—made possible the most wonderful +<i>spiritual</i> blessing imaginable, and that is the only benefit which +can endure through life and eternity.</p> + +<p>Neither can it be said that if Jesus had not been born some other +might have brought us salvation and life and joy, for "there is none +other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."</p> + +<p>Edison was used of God to give us light to read by; Jesus gives us +light to live by and to die by.</p> + +<p>Watt was used of God to give us steam power with which to manufacture +and to haul; Jesus gives us power to overcome evil which would destroy +us, body and soul, and that power is infinitely more necessary.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bell was used of God to supply us with the <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>means of speaking and +hearing over long distances; Jesus gives us connection with God and +shortens to whispering nearness and forgiveness the long distance of +separation between an outraged Heavenly Father and a disobedient +child.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Luke 2:1-20.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXIV" id="XXXIV"></a>XXXIV</h2> + +<h2>AIMING HIGH</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, on the train sometimes a fellow-passenger becomes +confidential and tells a story right out of his heart. One of this +kind came to me the other day.</p> + +<p>There were two brothers—clever boys, keen, alert, ambitious. They +lived in a Christian home. God spoke very clearly to both of them, +calling them to lives of consecrated service for Him.</p> + +<p>A—— decided to train for the ministry. B—— said the ministry was +poorly paid. He felt that A—— was needlessly committing himself to a +life of sacrifice. He shuddered at the prospect of a poor preacher's +hand to mouth existence. As for him, he would sell <i>his</i> talents in +the world market, where brains and training counted for something and +brought a large price. Not for him the narrow life in a small corner, +when a young man of ambition and push could live and have a good time +in the big current. A fortune, a fame, and a life on the high road of +ease and pleasure were the things really worth striving for, and for +these he proposed to drive.</p> + +<p>Twelve or fifteen years have passed since these decisions were formed. +A—— finished his seminary training, was licensed as a minister, and +accepted a little country charge. It was hard sledding, the salary was +small, and the work was more or less discouraging, but it was a clean +course and a clear road, <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>and he buckled down, throwing into his work +all his resources.</p> + +<p>B—— went to a large city and got a trial job as reporter on a big +daily. He had a mind for writing—a good vocabulary, and a flow of +language which gave promise of carrying him to the goal of his +ambition. He wrote verses in good style, and had had a number of poems +in his college magazine. B——'s program, you remember, put special +emphasis upon "having the good things of this life while you may." +Putting the emphasis there is likely to warp one's judgment as to what +are really "the good things," and so it proved in B——'s case, for he +spent his salary on luxuries, and for the temporary gratification of +his appetite and his ideas of "a good time."</p> + +<p>He had to call on his father periodically for money to pay for dire +necessities. It was not surprising that B——'s jobs changed +frequently and he went from city to city—the general direction of his +fortunes, habits, and health being downward. Just now he has a job on +a little weekly paper in a village. His bare pittance in these parlous +days of H.C.L. hardly sustains his solitary bachelor existence. He is +a broken-hearted and discouraged man—not old in years, but with the +snap and vigour of young manhood gone. He is in debt, and there is +small chance of his getting out. He is practically a cipher in his +community. Life is one daily reminder of failure, and the relentless +bearing down of bitter disappointment.</p> + +<p>But look at A——. He is the happy and enthusiastic pastor of a large +and growing congregation, which <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>congregation is simply "daffy" about +him. They pay him a good salary, even as salaries go in these advanced +times, and he is absolutely free from financial care. He has a +commodious and comfortable home, presided over by his wife and blessed +with little children. His congregation recently made him an +anniversary present of a three thousand dollar car, replacing one they +had previously given him, of a cheaper make.</p> + +<p>My passenger companion (who, by the way, is the father of these two +boys) said when he was at A——'s home recently, two dressed turkeys +were sent in by two families of his congregation on the same day. His +is one of the progressive churches of the state. It supports a number +of outpost missions, "manned" by the members of his congregation. He +is held in high esteem, not only in the community but in the state. +And with all this, he seems to be only upon the threshold of his +life-work, with a career of greatest usefulness laid out invitingly +before him. Endowed, like his brother, with unusual natural ability, +he is finding widest scope for the free play of all his powers; and +these powers being fully consecrated, are illuminated and energized by +the very-power of God.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, which of these two was wise? Which would you rather be?</p> + +<p>Truly God means what He says when He tells you and me to-day: "Seek ye +first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things +shall be added unto you"!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 6:25-34.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXV" id="XXXV"></a>XXXV</h2> + +<h2>WAITING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, are you "game" to consider a tough little word in the +language to-day? All right, brace up, for it is one of the hardest +things a fellow has to tackle, and the main reason <i>why</i> it is hard is +that you can't tackle it, but have to wait.</p> + +<p>There! I have said it—the word is W-A-I-T.</p> + +<p>The boys who went to France say they didn't so much mind "going over +the top" as they did the sometimes long waiting and suspense which +preceded.</p> + +<p>In every fellow's boyhood days there are necessary periods of waiting; +not idle waiting, mind you. The "prodigal son" couldn't stand it, you +remember. "Dad, give me what is coming to me, and let me get away from +the humdrum life of the farm. I want to see life!" and he picked his +fruit green and ate it. That poor fellow got an awful +stomach-ache—and it was the worse ache of <i>emptiness</i> and not of +fullness!</p> + +<p>But maybe you are wondering what all this has to do with these three +parables of the kingdom spoken by our Lord. Just this: they are "wait" +parables. The servants of the man who had sowed wheat in his field, +said: "Master, look! tares are coming up with the wheat—what shall we +do?" Their master <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>said, "Wait." Then when the harvest ripened and the +thing could be safely handled without injuring the wheat, the tares +were separated and destroyed. A fellow struggling along, trying to do +right, finding it up-hill work and the denial of many so-called +pleasures, sees another fellow running a loose and reckless program, +doing all the forbidden things, yet without injury apparently.</p> + +<p>It looks as though one can disobey all the rules, have a fine time, +and suffer no setbacks. What's the use stinting and pinching oneself +into a straight and narrow track when those out on the broad way are +having all the life—and getting away with it? Well, bo, you just +<i>wait</i>. It looked awful gloomy for the Allies all through those trench +waiting months of 1915 to 1918; but in 1918 Chateau-Thierry popped +through. The strength of an ally had been developing, and there +followed in rapid succession the victories of Belleau Wood, the +Argonne, and St. Mihiel—and Right came into its own.</p> + +<p>Remember, the waiting time of a boy's life is that time of silent +growing of the moral fiber, the character, and at the proper moment he +will rise in the full strength of a well-rounded manhood and take his +rightful place in the world of things, while tares which were ever so +flourishing go to the dump heap and the trash burning.</p> + +<p>The mustard seed was very small, lying there in the ground. It had to +<i>wait</i>. Even when it came up and looked about, it seemed there was +hardly a chance for so fragile a stem, but it <i>waited</i>, and while it +waited, it <i>grew</i>. After a while it became a full-grown <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>bush, and the +birds of the air came and lodged in it. There is a legend about trees +longing for birds to come to their branches, some trees growing +lonesome or jealous because other trees seemed to be more inviting to +the birds. That is much like human nature. We naturally like to be +sought out. "Wait" is the watchword; keep sweet and hustle, and soon +enough our branches will reach high and spread.</p> + +<p>The woman put the yeast in the dough, then set it by to <i>wait</i>. What a +mistake it would have been to try to cook it at once; the bread would +have been almost as heavy as lead, and totally unfit to eat. But while +she waited, the leaven <i>worked</i>—and so while you patiently wait, +doing God's will as best you know how, <i>God works</i>, and what a mighty +Worker is He! Then, as you grow, He gives you a part to do alongside +with Him; He and you work together.</p> + +<p>Let's not be in too big a hurry for the Eats, fellows; let's work and +wait—and then how good the Reward will taste.</p> + +<p>That is the style of the kingdom of heaven.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 13:24-43.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXVI" id="XXXVI"></a>XXXVI</h2> + +<h2>ACTION</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, there come times when a fellow must act, and act +promptly, or lose his chance to clinch a good thing. In the preceding +talk our key-word was "Wait." To-day it is a shorter, quicker, sharper +word, and one that a boy likes better. A-c-t—that's it. <i>There</i> is +movement,—something doing. The word is all pep, touch and go! We like +it, don't we?</p> + +<p>When he was twelve years old, Thomas Edison was a newsbutch on a road +running out of Detroit. As the train left Detroit one morning, Edison, +as usual, went back into the first-class coach with the morning +papers. Near the front sat two young fellows, acting very gay. They +hailed everybody who passed in the aisle, and they hallooed out the +window at folks and objects as the train rolled along. They were on a +lark, and wanted everybody to know it.</p> + +<p>"Morning papers!" called out Edison.</p> + +<p>"How much are they worth?" sang out one of the jolly fellows.</p> + +<p>"Five cents," said Edison.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how much for the whole bunch?" retorted the young man.</p> + +<p>"Why," said the newsbutch looking a little surprised, "there are +forty—they're worth two dollars."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>"We'll take 'em," said the noisy passenger, and whipping out two +crisp one-dollar bills, took the papers from Edison and handed them to +his companion, who threw the entire bunch out of the train window. +Evidently these young men had plenty of money to spend, and were +inclined to make a sensation and attract attention.</p> + +<p>Edison quickly took in the situation. "Phew," said he to himself, +"here is a chance for real business," and he hurried forward to the +"baggage" where his supply trunk was stored. He quickly returned with +an armful of magazines, some rather out of date.</p> + +<p>"How much are they worth?" promptly inquired the young spendthrifts.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-five cents apiece, or $5.50 for the pile."</p> + +<p>"Take 'em," said the spokesman, and paying the money he and his +companion dumped the magazines out of the window.</p> + +<p>Back to the "baggage" went Edison, and returned with his basket of +fruit, candy, chewing-gum, and other things. Again the transaction, +and goods, basket, and all went through the window.</p> + +<p>Then Edison rushed once more to the "baggage." He piled everything he +could lay any claim to into his supply box, some things old, some new, +some unsalable, dragged the box through the train, crossing its open +platforms between coaches with some difficulty, and at last drew up +nearly breathless before these reckless buyers. Quickly he pulled off +his coat, hat, collar, tie, and shoes, and piled them on top of the +box and announced: "Everything I've got is for <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>sale!" The price was +paid, and the young men directed their servant, who was near by, to +drag the box to the back of the coach and throw it out, which order +was obeyed.</p> + +<p>The newsbutch with a chuckle went forward to tell his friend the +baggage man about his "streak of luck," while he fondly fingered a fat +little roll of bills down deep in his trousers. His entire stock in +trade had been transmuted into the coin of the realm, his profits were +secure, his losses were nil. He had found a good thing, he had +recognized an opportunity, and he had let no grass grow under his feet +while he laid hold upon it and reaped the golden harvest.</p> + +<p>Fellows, there is something like that, only far better, offering to +you this moment. It is the <i>treasure</i>—not of perishable value like +gold, but of eternal value. Jesus Christ is offering to take you into +business with Him and let you deal with values so much finer and +higher than anything else that the surprise and joy of them will last +through all eternity.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 13:44-52.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXVII" id="XXXVII"></a>XXXVII</h2> + +<h2>A CORONATION</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows: This is David's big day. Let's enjoy it with him. Let's +get in the crowd gathering at Hebron and see a coronation.</p> + +<p>And what a crowd! About three hundred and forty-four thousand mighty +men of war—all the tribes of Israel were represented there that +day—and they came over the hills of Judah from north and east and +south to put a crown on David which would make him king of all Israel.</p> + +<p>For many years David had waited for this day. At the death of Saul, +two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, had proclaimed him king, but ten of +the tribes had crowned Saul's son, Ishbosheth, as his father's +successor. So David waited seven and a half years longer, and then the +whole kingdom came under his rule.</p> + +<p>Many times during those long years when a fugitive from Saul, hiding +in caves or seeking the protection of heathen kings, it must have +seemed as if God had forgotten him, and once David did almost break +down, but he rallied, took a fresh hold, and "carried on."</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, it must be a fine sight to see a man receive a royal +crown, but it is a finer sight when there are fine qualities in a man +deserving honour and reward. No head deserves a crown unless there +<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>are crowning virtues in the life. What were some of the qualities in +David which merited a crowning on that great day?</p> + +<p>One was his faith. Faith in God; faith in his fellow-man; faith in +himself. It takes faith even to start anywhere, and it takes more +faith to arrive. David's faith was of the coronation variety.</p> + +<p>Another was his patience. David waited. He did not try to force +matters. Whenever God was ready—that was David's time. In one of his +great psalms, he wrote: "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he heard +my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry +clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." David's +patience was crowned.</p> + +<p>Another was David's continual kindness to a foe. He was even kind to +Saul's memory and rewarded the men who reverently took Saul's body +from the wall of Bethshan and gave it decent burial. David's chivalry +was crowned.</p> + +<p>But, fellows, the fine thing to know is that the same princely +qualities can exist to-day in each one of us; not for crowns on our +heads, but for a great satisfaction in our hearts. Faith, patience, +and a knightly spirit are just as possible possessions now as they +were in David's day. They are spoken of in slightly different terms by +Paul in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians,—Faith, hope, and +love. You can have them all. They are priceless, but you can have them +if you ask for them.</p> + +<p>Be a prince of the Royal House!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 2 Samuel 2:1-7.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXVIII" id="XXXVIII"></a>XXXVIII</h2> + +<h2>DO IT RIGHT</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, down-town the other day a man tried to save a boy who +was caught near some wires, and got killed himself for his trouble. +Hard luck, wasn't it? Yet he had nobody to blame for it but himself. +He took hold of a wire which carried the electric current for the +street cars. He broke a law of nature and got punished. There was a +way he could have gotten the wire away from the boy. A Boy Scout did +it later <i>with a pole</i>.</p> + +<p>Just the difference between touching with the hand or touching with a +stick—very little, perhaps, but the law of electricity made the +difference important, so that the one meant death—the other, life!</p> + +<p>Now here comes along King David trying twice to move the ark of the +Lord up to Jerusalem, where it ought to be, the first attempt proving +fatal because he was foolish enough to try to handle it as the +Philistines did, instead of doing it strictly by the rules God had +made—rules which David should have known very well, because they were +in his Bible (Num. 4:4-6, 15; also 1 Chron. 15:11-15). The rules +required that the ark should be carried on poles resting on the +shoulders of certain men set apart for that service, but David +permitted them to put it on an ox cart, attended by Ahio and Uzzah, +two <a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>well-meaning fellows, no doubt, but not according to the rules. +One of the oxen stumbled, the ark jostled, and Uzzah put his hand on +it to steady it. Presto! Uzzah a dead man on the side of the road!</p> + +<p>They called David from where he was marching at the front of the +procession, and when he got back there and saw what had happened, it +gave him an awful shock, for he knew he was just as guilty as +Uzzah—and perhaps more so. He ordered the men to take the ark into +Obed-edom's house beside the road and be careful to pick it up by the +poles. Then he went on back to Jerusalem without it. He got out the +Book of Numbers and went over the rules about the ark very carefully. +For three months he studied the matter. Then he went after the ark +again—this time in God's way. He called for the priests and the men +appointed to carry the ark; he organized a band and a great choir of +singers, and went to Obed-edom's house. There they picked up the ark +by the poles and started. Still David was scared, and when they had +moved forward only ten yards ("six paces") he made them stop, while a +sacrifice of oxen and rams was made to the Lord.</p> + +<p>David was overjoyed when he saw everything going well, and he began to +dance and to sing. All the way to Jerusalem he danced and shouted for +joy.</p> + +<p>David thought a lot of the ark, because it meant the presence of God, +and that meant in this case the blessing of God. As he grew older and +wiser he had greater reverence for God's house and all the holy things +which were tokens of God's presence. In one of the psalms he wrote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a></p> +<span class="i0">The Lord is in His holy temple;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let all the earth keep silence before Him.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The least a boy can do for God's honour is to keep quiet in church.</p> + +<p>The best a boy can do for himself is to put God at the very center of +his every interest—the fear of God, love for God, and reverence for +all His holy law.</p> + +<p>Take hold as God says, and everything will go fine!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 2 Samuel 6:1-11.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXXIX" id="XXXIX"></a>XXXIX</h2> + +<h2>KEEPING FAITH</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, it takes a real sport to live up to a promise when +conditions shift on him. If there is a streak of yellow in his system +he will find some way to kick out every time. Life is a big game, and +it takes a real man to play it on the square—if only square and no +more.</p> + +<p>But, fellows, what can you say about that one man in a thousand who +plays the game of "Remember and Pay" as finely as David did?</p> + +<p>Young gentlemen, please meet Mephibosheth, this man of the twisted +feet and outlandish name. Kings did not usually choose such to live in +their courts and sit at the royal table. Only the fine-looking men and +beautiful women were invited to become members of the king's +household.</p> + +<p>But, worse still, this Mephibosheth, being a grandson of Saul, was at +any time a possible pretender to the throne. It was the custom of +kings to get rid of such. Not so David. When he finds out about the +poor cripple over there across the mountains east of the Jordan, he +sends for him and invites him to come and live at the palace in +Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>Now you will find David's promise to Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:14-17; +and his promise to Saul in 1 Samuel 24:20-22. David had only agreed +that when he became king he would not kill Saul's descendants. He +could have fulfilled his promise by simply allowing <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>Mephibosheth to +live as he was doing, visiting around, kind of sneaky like, without +any pocket change, among the few friends who would take him in.</p> + +<p>What do you suppose Mephibosheth thought when the messengers showed up +one morning at Machir's house and called for him to appear before the +king? Scared to death, don't you think? No doubt he thought it was all +over for him now, except the "slow driving and music on the hill." +Why, when he came before the king he bowed clear down to the marble +floor, doing obeisance, and called himself a dead dog. Then, what +happened? He had to pinch himself to see whether he was dreaming. He +never got over the surprise of it as long as he lived. King David +helped him up on his crutches and told him to cheer up, for from that +time forward he should sit at his table, and be as one of the king's +own sons.</p> + +<p>More than that: with all the thoughtfulness and fine courtesy of a +Christian gentleman, David turned over to this cripple his grandfather +Saul's estate, together with Saul's servant, old Ziba, with his +fifteen sons and twenty slaves, to till the land. That was to provide +Mephibosheth with an income.</p> + +<p>Now, what do you know about that, fellows? It was playing the game of +kindness to win, wasn't it? Win what? Why, to win the satisfaction +which can only come to one who keeps his promise—and then some, for +good measure!</p> + +<p>Yes, it takes even more than a good sport to do that. It takes one who +is willing to be Christlike.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 2 Samuel, Chapter 9.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XL" id="XL"></a>XL</h2> + +<h2>THE GAME THAT CAME NEAR BLOWING UP IN THE SEVENTH INNING</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, have you heard the sorrowful news about David? Too bad! +Just as we were beginning to think David, with his fine manly ways, +his love for God's honour, for God's ark, his bravery, his fairness +and kindness—just as we were thinking he would make a clean record to +the end of the game, now here comes an awful flunk!</p> + +<p>It's kind of like when the score is 2 to 0, in favor of the home team, +and we are feeling good—then all of a sudden in the seventh inning +the boys go all to pieces, and let the other side put four men across +the plate.</p> + +<p>Strange how David fumbled and played badly when he had had such a long +winning streak, but so it must ever be when you get the idea you're +"it" and can't slip. David let down, and away down. Fellows, would you +believe it if it were not in the Bible—he broke all the commandments +from the sixth to the tenth, inclusive. God says whatsoever a man +sows, that shall he also reap. David sowed the wind and reaped the +whirlwind. Absalom, his son, committed all the sins his father did, +and added some, for he broke the fifth commandment also, and broke his +father's heart.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>David was very fond of Absalom, and would have done anything for him, +but that boy didn't appreciate it. He was a good-looking chap; the +girls admired him, and a lot of foolish fellows hung around him, +flattered him, and made him vain.</p> + +<p>Absalom had the big-head. If there is a sorry sight upon earth it is a +fellow that is stuck on himself. Absalom was conceited and proud. He +wanted even to be king in place of his father, and was unwilling to +wait for what would have come in due time. Many a fellow spills the +beans by being unwilling to wait. He ruins his best chance by trying +to pick the fruit before it is ripe. If there is ever a time when +patience is golden it is in the time of youth. A boy wants to stop +studying and training, and take a short-cut to fame and success. It is +usually a bad mistake.</p> + +<p>Absalom's blunder was fatal. He tried to land on his father's throne +by treachery; he landed in a tree, caught by his head. He thought to +win a crown; he got three hot darts between the ribs from Joab. He +planned to have a pile of wealth quickly gained, but by the end of the +week his handsome form was buried deep beneath a pile of rocks. Ever +afterward when an Israelite passed that monument of dishonour, he +picked up a stone and cast it upon the heap to show his contempt for +the memory of a disloyal son.</p> + +<p>Oh, fellows, the tragic day of a boy's life is when he decides to +throw over a good father. No matter what prize is offered. It may be +to get more liberty; it may be to escape restraint or rebuke, but it +is a <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>bad trade at best. Ordinarily a boy's best man friend is his +father. If this does not seem to be the case, usually it is because +the son won't allow it. Many a father longs, like David, for his boy's +confidence and companionship. Many a boy could have in his father the +finest chum imaginable, if he would give his father a chance to show +him what a real chum is.</p> + +<p>Fellows, let's give Dad some of that fine Scout loyalty and watch him +warm up to it. He may have some chum qualities you never thought of.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 2 Samuel 11:1-27, and<br /> +2 Samuel 15:7-18.</i><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLI" id="XLI"></a>XLI</h2> + +<h2>THE BITTEN APPLE</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I was visiting a boy friend one afternoon and while we +played his mother called him. Wondering if there was anything wrong, I +waited and listened while he answered the summons. I could hear her +speaking to him as she said: "Bob, here are two apples—one for you +and one for Wade."</p> + +<p>Then I waited, and as Bob did not return at once I stepped to the +corner of the house to see what kept him. That fellow was sitting on +the step digging his teeth into one of the apples. I thought: "Well, +that's polite, starting on his own before he gives the other to his +guest!" It rather disgusted me. Directly Bob came round the corner, +kind of sheepish like, and what do you suppose he did? Well, fellows, +he offered me <i>the bitten apple</i>!</p> + +<p>That was enough for me. Take it? I guess not. I turned on my heel +without a word and went straight home. I don't think anything ever +inspired more contempt in me as a boy than that piece of petty +thievery.</p> + +<p>Of course, fellows, that was not a Christian way to treat an erring +playmate, and I fear I had very little charity in my heart; I am just +telling you frankly how that act of Bob's impressed me. And it was +only in the beginning of Bob's eventful career. Twenty-five years +later, Bob's name was in the daily <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>papers all over the country. He +had gotten away with a big sum of money that belonged to others who +had trusted him, and now he is a poor hunted fugitive from his native +land, if indeed he is alive.</p> + +<p>The boy who begins taking just a bite of somebody else's apple is +likely going to pull off <i>something big</i> some day!</p> + +<p>Suppose Bob's mother had handed him seven apples and asked him to save +one of them for her, and he had made away with the whole lot, don't +you think that would have been pretty mean and low down?</p> + +<p>Listen, fellows, something mighty close to that—only a lot worse—is +happening with boys to-day who look upon themselves as the souls of +honour. I am just wondering if they fully realize it. It is not in +their relationship to mother, but to God their heavenly Father and +creator. He has placed in your hands and in mine, each week, seven +full twenty-four hour days. He says, "Six for you and one for Me."</p> + +<p>He trusts you to keep that One Day, the Sabbath, for Him. How do we +discharge that trust? Are we worthy of it? God does not lock us up in +a dark room on Sunday and handcuff us and chain our feet to the floor. +No, He trusts us; He prefers to trust us. He wants us to honour His +laws about the Sabbath, of our own free will. That is the kind of +service God likes—willing service.</p> + +<p>And, fellows, you cannot abuse that trust and escape the penalty. God +has commanded in His Word, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. +Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>the seventh day +is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work." +No man, no boy, can continually break the Sabbath day and get away +with it. Sooner or later he will come to sorrow because of it.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, God distinctly promises blessings upon those who +honour His Sabbath (Isa. 58:13, 14).</p> + +<p>Fellows, God is the best "payer" that ever promised. He always pays +more than He promises. His day concerns our happiness, our health, our +prosperity, our usefulness, our success. All these vital issues are +involved.</p> + +<p>And I am going to tell you just one more fine secret. It is a nugget +of pure gold. The best way to avoid violating God's Sabbath is to get +busy honouring it with service—service to Him. Go regularly to +Sunday-school and to church service—and go <i>on time</i>. You will find +something to do there.</p> + +<p>Spend your Sabbath afternoon in the study of God's Word, read some +good book that will feed your soul; spend some time in some work of +mercy. Take a bit of something good to eat to the poor fellow in jail +and tell him you do it because you love Jesus Christ and are trying to +serve Him, and want him to love Christ and serve Him, too. You will +find it a short day, but, oh, such a fine and happy one, and you will +go to bed refreshed. Next morning you will wake up whistling and you +will turn off work at the store or at school like a forty-horse +tractor.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Exodus 20:8-11, and<br /> +Isaiah 58:10-14.</i><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLII" id="XLII"></a>XLII</h2> + +<h2>MY KINGDOM</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I heard a boy quoting Shakespeare the other day. He was +coming out of a movie with two other boys, just as I was passing. They +had probably been in there an hour or more, for they seemed glad to +get out in the fresh air. But the boy's exclamation was what caught my +attention; it was this:</p> + +<p>"My kingdom for a cigarette!"</p> + +<p>To be sure, Shakespeare makes Richard III say, "My kingdom for a +horse!"—the boy changed a word; and it was just a careless remark +expressing his craving for a smoke, but it raised a question in my +mind: Did that young fellow realize he said a very important and true +thing? When Richard III cried out, "My kingdom for a horse!" he was +dead in earnest; he was fighting for his very life against +overwhelming odds, and he was really willing to surrender his kingdom +for some swift means of getting away from that desperate scene of +carnage. But if the cigarette boy had been faced pointblank with the +proposition I do not believe he would have agreed to give up <i>his</i> +kingdom for the "coffin tack."</p> + +<p>Yes, this boy had a kingdom; every boy has a kingdom.</p> + +<p>As I paused on the corner, the three boys entered <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>a store and quickly +came out, each with a cigarette in his mouth, taking deep inhalations +and expelling smoke through lips and nostrils as they sauntered down +the street.</p> + +<p>I was still thinking of the boy's kingdom. Through a wonderful plan +God, the Creator, puts each boy over an empire. Perhaps you may think +it is a small one, but to him it is greater and means more for his +success and happiness than any empire on earth. God places a scepter +in each boy's hand and says, "Govern!—Rule over your kingdom!" And it +is a very wonderful kingdom, with four splendid provinces called +Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual. Each of these provinces is +capable of producing great values and making rich and powerful almost +beyond belief.</p> + +<p>God also places at each boy's hand the resources for fighting off the +enemies of his kingdom. This defensive armament, which is also for +building work, in part consists of common sense, information (or +education), will-power, determination, aspiration, and physical +strength—and to make each of these effective, He gives His Word and +sends His Holy Spirit to guide and sustain. If a fellow just realized +it and would use what God puts in his hand he would have a kingdom he +wouldn't exchange for Solomon's.</p> + +<p>But, fellows, what a pity when a boy will exchange his kingdom for a +cigarette; in comes the cigarette; down goes the physical +province—the cigarette destroys the delicate tissues of the mucous +membrane; down goes the mental province—the cigarette makes the mind +dull and listless and takes away its snap <a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>and vigour; down goes the +social province—the cigarette makes its victim shun the best and seek +the lower grades of social life and activity; down goes the spiritual +province, the most precious of all—for spirit chokes and dies in the +atmosphere of the cigarette and its inevitable accompaniments.</p> + +<p>This, of course, is just one of the enemies of a boy's kingdom; I have +spoken of it particularly because it is the one which seems to catch +boys off their guard most easily. There are many others. Intemperance +of any kind is an enemy to the best interests of your empire. Send out +a proclamation to yourself, to-day, and put all provinces on notice +that <i>you</i> are on your throne and God is your Counsellor—and that +henceforth none of the kingdom's enemies will be admitted across the +border.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read 1 Corinthians 10:9-15.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLIII" id="XLIII"></a>XLIII</h2> + +<h2>A TOOL BOX</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, on one of my boyhood birthdays I received a tool box. It +was a peach of a tool box, too; not one of the dime store variety, +with a saw the same length as the gimlet, but with a set of tools that +no amateur carpenter would despise. I was greatly delighted with that +tool box, and immediately began planning the things I would make. +Mother wanted a shelf on the back porch and a coop for an old hen just +off with her chicks; my dog needed a dog house, and I even aspired to +a rowboat for the pond. I could hardly wait for material before +getting to work. Fingering over those tools, my eye fell upon a motto +graven on the inside of the lid of the box. It read:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Be Sure You Are Right—Then Go Ahead</span></p> + +<p>Very good advice, I thought; but perhaps intended for fellows who knew +less about tools than I did. I guessed I was not so apt to make +mistakes, knowing so well what I wanted to do, and being so determined +to do it. Several dollars' worth of lumber and nails were laid in, and +I entered at once upon the work of "general manufacturing." Fritz was +wagging his <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>tail and barking as if he had scented the dog house in my +plans, so I decided to attend to that first. It would have been better +to start with the shelf, as that was simpler; but I slashed away on +the dog house, and soon had some stuff sawed up for the framework. It +didn't match. I sawed some more, and that didn't match. I began to +think perhaps Fritz didn't specially need a dog house anyhow; so I +tried to work the dog house materials into the chicken coop, but that +wouldn't go, either. Then I sawed some more for the chicken coop. It +was not as simple a proposition as I had thought it would be, besides +there was a confusion of design somehow in my mind. The day wound up +with nothing accomplished, except a lot of good material butchered to +the point of kindling wood only. Next morning I tackled something I +"knew I could do,"—the shelf. But that proved to be a surprisingly +obstinate job; the supports I sawed at different angles, and when +trying to force the joints together by nailing, I split them both. The +shelf was a failure.</p> + +<p>Then I saw a light.</p> + +<p>I was rather dejectedly pondering the situation as I stood by the tool +box, and my eye fell again on that motto! In not one instance had I +made sure I was right before I went ahead. My zeal had been without +knowledge. I had mistaken "Purpose" and "Determination," as the high +prerequisites, instead of "Being Sure I was Right."</p> + +<p>Fellows, Saul the Pharisee had zeal without knowledge. He blazed away +upon the presumption that Jesus was an impostor. Why, the Jesus idea +was <a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>preposterous, Saul mused. God's Kingdom was to be set up with a +great capital at Jerusalem and a great and powerful king on the throne +to whom all the world around would come and pay tribute. Anybody who +claimed that the King had already come and been crucified like a thief +was a dangerous fanatic and should be haled to prison or put to death.</p> + +<p>This brilliant young Pharisee, carefully trained in ecclesiastical law +and the traditions of the elders, went forth bitterly persecuting the +followers of Jesus—even witnessing and approving the cruel stoning of +Stephen. This showed Saul's Purpose and Determination, which he +mistook for being Right. Well, we know that after that Saul suddenly +"saw a light"; but think of the havoc Saul wrought before he came to +his senses. Think of the Service Time wasted. Think of the fine +Material destroyed—sawn asunder. Think of Stephen!</p> + +<p>Fellows, are you building anything these days? Are you sure you are +Right? Or are you just blazing away at something because you have warm +red blood and all the zeal and purpose of youth? There is one thing +each one of you is building. You are building a Life. Oh, fellows, be +sure you are Right, for it is the most important structure you will +ever put up, and remember that "other foundation can no man lay than +that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Be sure you are right—then go +ahead. When your life is built on Jesus, you may go forward with +confidence. Any other way means wasted time, wasted material, regrets, +disappointment—and Failure at last.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><p><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a></p> +<span class="i0">"I have not built my house on sands,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tho' golden sands there be;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have not built with greedy hands<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A building fair to see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But my house on a solid Rock,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And not the Builder I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But guest in house to stand the shock<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When tempests rend the sky.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lo, Christ! the Builder of my house,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He laid foundation stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So reck I not if storms carouse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For He will hold His own."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 7:59-8:3.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLIV" id="XLIV"></a>XLIV</h2> + +<h2>SAUL NIAGARA</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, if there were two hundred railroad tracks out there, and +on each track, every moment, passed a freight train carrying fifty +cars, each car holding fifty tons of water (maximum load for the +largest tank car), the two hundred trains, with their ten thousand +cars per minute would not be more than sufficient to carry away the +water as fast as it tumbles over Niagara Falls. With crushing and +destructive force that mighty volume plunges downward into a great +stone bowl which it has carved out for itself, so deep that if the +Woolworth Building were set down in it not more than half of it would +show above the top of the Falls. Engineers have estimated the total +energy of Niagara Falls at sixteen million horse-power!</p> + +<p>Fellows, I think of the life of Saul, afterward known as the Apostle +Paul, as somewhat like Niagara River. The great river flows +majestically, uninterruptedly, more than half of its length, having a +fall of not more than twenty feet in twenty-two miles. Then suddenly +something happens. Something tremendously tragic and startling +happens. It plunges headlong over a precipice. Here is power gone mad.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>Saul, the Pharisee, the scholar, the zealot—the colossal +mind—sweeping everything before him like an irresistible tide, riding +upon the crest of power, haling men and women to prison, breathing out +threatenings and slaughter and making havoc of the church, fell +headlong to the earth, as a blinding light burst forth from heaven and +the voice of the Lord sounded in his ears—the "still small voice," +yet mightier than the roar of any cataract.</p> + +<p>"Who art thou, Lord?" "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." "Lord, what +wilt thou have me to do?" Saul's conversion was complete. Convert +means to <i>turn about</i>. It means an entire change; not to be robbed of +one's powers, but to have those powers diverted into another and +entirely different channel.</p> + +<p>Look again at the Falls—that great destructive mass tumbling over the +cliff, beating rocks to pieces and slashing gigantic gorges in its +course. What is happening? Science is harnessing the power of the +cataract and with it producing light and heat and power for the cities +of Canada and the United States. Darkness is dispelled, warmth takes +the place of chill, the wheels of industry are humming, and men and +women are enabled to live and make bread for their little ones, +because of the conversion of a mighty force into life-giving +usefulness.</p> + +<p>Fellows, some people seem to think to accept Christ as the Master of +their lives means to take away or paralyze their powers—to deprive +them of some special activeness they possess and which they shrink +from giving up. Bless you, there could not be a <a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>worse mistake. To +accept Christ means to have those same powers, even though they might +have been devoted to evil, now turned into channels of finest, highest +service—the kind of service that really satisfies the cravings of the +human heart. I see a boy who, because he is of an intensely sociable +disposition, seeks the companionship of a gang of fellows around the +loafing places and pool-rooms in the evenings. Touched by the spirit +of Christ, those social qualities will be even more enthusiastically +devoted to winning other young people into Christian life and service. +I see a young fellow with an unbroken will, glorying in his freedom, +as he sees it, to resist the counsels of wiser ones against his evil +habits, cigarettes or any other destructive thing that may have gotten +into his life. That same will-power, that same stubbornness, touched +by the power of Christ becomes the rock-ribbed steadfastness that has +enabled men to put through great achievements for God. I see a boy who +can invent much devilment and get himself and others into an almost +incredible amount of trouble and sorrow. It might be the judgment of +some that "killing is the only thing good for him," but touched by the +spirit of Jesus, that boy becomes a veritable genius for doing +effective things to promote the Kingdom of God—and no fellow in the +community happier than he. He verily throbs with the joy of living.</p> + +<p>No, fellows, you don't turn a river back up-stream to convert it; you +simply harness it, and its powers flow on, but for good and not for +destruction. If you want to be a power that blesses wherever it +<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>touches, and dashes back into your own heart the spray of the salt +and the tang of the fresh morning air, hear to-day the Voice of your +Master, and quickly answer: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 9:1-19.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLV" id="XLV"></a>XLV</h2> + +<h2>"TURNING THE BATTLE AT THE GATE"</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, now and then a thing happens which sets our blood +tingling and makes every nerve in us want to send up a mighty shout. +For instance, when the score is against us in the ninth inning, and +with two men out and the bases full, our pinch hitter comes to bat, +coolly waits, picks out the "good one," and swats the pill over +left-field fence! Or when Hindenburg's hordes are pouring into the +Marne wedge, almost to the gates of Paris, Foch calmly waits—and +prays while he waits—then at the crucial moment hurls those chafing +reserves against them, turns disaster into victory and enshrines the +names of Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and the American Marines in +song and story for ages to come.</p> + +<p>Fellows, every life is a campaign, and it is the biggest game of all; +into this great contest come crises now and then, and the way we meet +them largely determines the result. If those crises have not begun to +come in your life, let it be the sure sign to you that God is holding +them off while He gives you the opportunity to make the necessary +preparation for them, for come they will. There will be times when the +storm is breaking around your head and the ground will seem to be +crumbling beneath your feet. <a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>Such times come to every fellow who sets +his face to a principle and determines to stand like a man, no matter +what it costs.</p> + +<p>Fellows, Paul was that kind of a man. He had that steadfastness to +principle, that firmness of purpose, which gave him poise when all +about him was tumult. Other men lost their heads; Paul kept cool. It +was a critical moment around the temple court that morning; the Jewish +mob was murderous, the Roman chief captain was petulant, and he was +cold and relentless as steel.</p> + +<p>Paul had to handle both on separate grounds to keep them from +"handling" him—and both at the same time. He shrewdly "played both +ends against the middle." He drew from his quiver two keen but +entirely different arrows, and both "went home." To the chief captain, +he whispered one small word, "I am a Roman citizen." That made the +grim warrior's jaw drop. It thoroughly frightened him and gave him +such profound respect for his prisoner that on a later occasion he did +Paul a very vital service.</p> + +<p>To the mob of Jews clamouring for Paul's life, Paul having gained the +chief captain's permission, turned and informed them in the Hebrew +tongue that he was a better Jew than any of them, and he made out his +case so well that they listened—and before they realized it, Paul had +accomplished his object and delivered his shot, which was to proclaim +Christ as "that Just One," the Saviour of the world—including the +despised Gentiles. The Truth had gone home, and they gnashed their +teeth, tore their own clothes into shreds, and threw dust into the +air, while <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>Paul was taken into the castle for further examination +and, for the time being, was safe.</p> + +<p>Fellows, baseball does furnish now and then a moment's thrill—and +thank God for the clean game; a world war makes the earth tremble for +many years—and may the Lord have pity upon its victims; but Paul was +grappling the Big Event upon which Eternity shivers—the Disaster of +rejecting Jesus Christ! And as we look upon Paul's life, his superb +manner of meeting great crises as they came, how he held not his own +life dear, we think of one of the great sayings of the prophet Isaiah:</p> + +<p>"<i>In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for +a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit +of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength</i> <span class="smcap">to +them that turn the battle at the gate</span>."</p> + +<p>Fellows, if you and I want a career that will give highest +satisfaction now, and will best bear record in Eternity, let's make +Christ at once its dominant Theme and sustaining Power!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 21:27-40 and 22:1-24.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLVI" id="XLVI"></a>XLVI</h2> + +<h2>A KING IN RAGS</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, a little ragamuffin—so the story goes—was being set +upon by a mob of larger boys in the streets of London many years ago. +These big bullies were jeering him and throwing sticks and cans at +him. The little fellow was plucky and defiant, and it made them all +the more cruel.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there appeared in the crowd a tall swarthy young fellow +slashing the tormentors right and left; until, after a stiff and +unequal fight, in which the rescuer was greatly outmatched in +strength, the cowardly ruffians were put to flight. That little +ragamuffin was no less a personage than the King of England, and the +curious circumstance by which he got into those rags and into that +cruel torture is told by Mark Twain, in his most interesting +story-book, "The Prince and the Pauper."</p> + +<p>In a later chapter we see the little king restored to his rightful +place upon the throne, and there amid the splendour of the court with +all the lords and ladies looking on, a tall, swarthy young man +advances and kneels and is knighted by the king. It is the same young +man who broke through the crowd, and at the risk of getting his own +head cracked took the part of the helpless little ragamuffin, not +knowing he was a king.</p> + +<p>That sounds like a romance—and it is; but, fellows, the same thing in +all its interesting elements and its <a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>happy outcome is happening +to-day in the streets and homes of your town and mine. All about us +there are folks being set upon—cruelly set upon. The tormentors may +not be ruffians in flesh and blood. They may simply be cruel +circumstances. Sometimes fire, sometimes sickness, sometimes financial +loss, sometimes accident, sometimes a combination of a number of +pestering calamities, getting the victim down and making life very +miserable in mind and uncomfortable in body.</p> + +<p>Now think of the folks in your block, fellows; how many of them are in +some sad plight which would make you shrink from exchanging places +with them? They are being set upon; can you get in there and help in +some way,—you with your good free strong arm, your big, sympathetic +heart, your pocketbook, your resources of interest and fun?</p> + +<p>And whom will you choose to help, and why? Will it be Tom Jones up +here on the corner, who broke his arm and needs somebody to come sit +with him and talk,—Tom Jones, who is rich and has a car of his own, +and who will likely share it with you when he gets well, if you are +good to him? Or will it be little Willie Bell over there across the +railroad, who is a hopeless cripple, whose folks are poor as anything, +and who can probably never repay you in any sort of way?</p> + +<p>Do you know, fellows, why some folks choose the Willie Bells to help? +Why, it is because they love Jesus Christ. They believe God's Word as +it tells us in to-day's wonderful passage in Matthew: "Then shall the +King say unto them on his right hand, Come, <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>ye blessed of my Father, +inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: +for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me +drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; +I was sick and ye visited me.... Then shall the righteous answer him, +saying, Lord, when did we see <i>thee</i> hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or +sick—and helped?... And the King shall answer and say unto them, +Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of +these, ye have done it unto me."</p> + +<p>You see, fellows, it takes some faith and some imagination. Ask God to +give you, first, Faith. Then ask Him to give you a consecrated +Imagination. Then you will see in every unfortunate person that you +can help—you will see <i>your King</i>. You have His own word for it, to +justify that imagination and to confirm it.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, you may sometimes in your zeal help somebody who is unworthy. +Don't let the fear of that make you miss the blessing. The very fact +that you go to him in the name of your Christ and for His sake, may be +the means of helping that poor unworthy one to cast off his rags of +sin and become clothed in the righteousness of your King.</p> + +<p>I tell you, fellows, it is a wonderful thing to be in the service of +such a Master. All your efforts for Him are given full value. Even +your mistakes, if honestly made are transmuted into the gold of +satisfaction. Let's launch out for Him, to-day. Let's take Him at His +word, and see how it works.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 25:31-46.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLVII" id="XLVII"></a>XLVII</h2> + +<h2>SHAKING UP PHILIPPI</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, that was one exciting day in Philippi. Not since Mark +Antony's Roman legions went tearing through to meet and destroy the +armies of Brutus and Cassius, nearly a hundred years before, had the +town been so shaken up; and all because of two inoffensive looking +Jews who had quietly walked in there and told about Jesus Christ. They +had come over the winding road from Neapolis, nine miles distant on +the seashore, where they had gotten out of a ship from Asia. A poor +crazy girl, a fortune teller, heard the message, her heart was changed +and she became sane and normal; it put an end to her "fortune telling" +and this enraged her masters, who had Paul and Silas arrested and put +into prison.</p> + +<p>That created some stir, but it was nothing to what was to follow. The +jailer seemed to take special pains to make his prisoners secure, +putting them in an inside cell and making their feet fast in the +stocks. These fellows looked so unworried that he probably suspected +they had a well-laid plan to escape. The jailer was further surprised +to hear the two prisoners singing—actually singing some of their +hymns, though they must have been in great discomfort.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>Away into the night they sang. The other prisoners heard them and +marvelled. Surely these new jail-birds had something which they, the +old ones, did not possess. The jailer, as he retired, doubtless +remarked to his wife: "Well, there's something uncanny about those two +men; here it is midnight and they are singing and going on like two +schoolboys on a picnic excursion!"</p> + +<p>He hadn't been asleep long, when a brick fell out of the mantelpiece +near the jailer's bed and the furniture about the room began to dance +a jig. Mrs. Jailer screamed and the children began to cry in terror. +The door creaked and pushed off its hinges, falling with a slam-bang. +The jailer jumped and landed in the middle of the floor. A flash of +lightning put a photograph on his staring eye that he never got rid of +to his dying day. The prison walls were cracked and falling, the doors +were down and the dazed prisoners were groping about.</p> + +<p>Alas, poor jailer, the thing of all most dreaded was about to +happen—his prisoners would escape! Earthquakes were bad enough, but +the sudden thought he got of himself answering to the governor next +morning with his life for the escape of those put in his charge was +more than he could bear. Reaching for his sword he placed it, hilt to +the ground, to fall upon its point and end his life right there;—then +he heard a clear voice coming through the darkness: "Stop! don't do +that. We're all here; nobody wants to get away."</p> + +<p>It was one of those psalm singing Jews! he recognized <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>that at once, +and putting up his sword he called to his wife to light the lamp quick +and bring it; then he rushed into the cell where Paul and Silas stood, +their feet free from stocks and hands unmanacled, and fell down on his +face before them.</p> + +<p>"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And the Philippian jailer was +thinking about the peril of his soul, for like a flash it had been +revealed to him that these men were from God. Paul's answer came quick +and true: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, +and thy house." And thy house—for Paul saw behind the jailer his +crouching, trembling wife and children. Paul told them all about it +then, and as the blessed truth came into their hearts, they stopped +trembling and began to find new hope in Jesus and a new joy in +service. Immediately, the jailer and his wife got basins of water and +washed the bruised stripes on the backs of the men. They saw in those +stripes the suffering Saviour's wounds which they would like to +soften; very differently they had viewed them the evening before. +Right there Paul baptized the whole household, and quickly afterward +the jailer straightened up the tumbled down kitchen stove and Mrs. +Jailer cooked something good and savoury for the men of God to eat.</p> + +<p>Fellows, it ends like a fairy tale, which says "they lived happy ever +after," for the record says the jailer "rejoiced, believing in God, +with all his house." And in this one word, "Rejoiced," I would like to +hand you the strangely wonderful and fine thing in <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>to-day's lesson. +Rejoicing puts the climax of satisfaction of joy into any experience. +Let it stand the test proof of rejoicing and you've got the true +value. If believing in and serving Jesus Christ could bring rejoicing +to a jailer and his household under such circumstances, surely then we +can better understand the force of Paul's word to Timothy when he +speaks of "the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."</p> + +<p>Here is a jailer. A jailer's office at best would not be much of a +rejoice shop. This jailer's life is in jeopardy when his prisoners +escape. His jail is cracked open, the doors are down and he cannot +shut them. The prisoners are walking about. At daylight he must reckon +with the authorities. Yet he is rejoicing. And the secret of his +rejoicing is in his believing—believing God.</p> + +<p>Fellows, it means everything to believe—to believe like the +Philippian jailer did. He not only accepted Christ and was baptized, +but he immediately began to minister to Christ's servants. It was the +one way in which he could in those first moments of his belief express +his faith, and he did it. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the +least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."</p> + +<p>This is the thing which is crowned by Rejoicing.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 16:16-34.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLVIII" id="XLVIII"></a>XLVIII</h2> + +<h2>GO IN YET—AND WIN!</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, look in upon three interesting personalities—Paul, +Barnabas and Mark; each one widely differing from the other two, yet +their lives bound up together in the biggest enterprise the world ever +knew—the winning of the world for Christ.</p> + +<p>They are planning another big "hike"—one that will be full of +hardship and perils, and Paul and Barnabas are having a hot discussion +about Mark. Barnabas wants to take him and Paul wants to leave +him—and why? Well, last year when they were taking a trip of this +kind, Mark left them and went back home. Paul says he's done with +Mark; if a fellow hasn't got a backbone better than a stick of +spaghetti, he doesn't want to load up with him. Barnabas, on the other +hand, thinks a lot of Mark; in fact, Mark is his nephew and he has a +strong interest in him. He knows Mark made a mistake back there in +Pamphylia, but who does not make a slip sometime? "Let's give him +another chance; he will make good because he is deeply sorry; I have +talked to him and I know that he is determined to redeem himself."</p> + +<p>"No," says Paul, and his jaw is set; "I would like to give him another +chance, but the Cause is too great <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>and too important to take chances +on a fellow who has thrown a chance away."</p> + +<p>So it goes. Both men are determined, and there happens the only thing +that can happen under such circumstances; they separate. Paul chooses +Silas as his companion, while Barnabas takes Mark with him. Barnabas +was one of the biggest-hearted fellows you ever saw. His very name +means, "Son of Consolation." He couldn't bear to see a fellow denied +the chance to make good. Paul, himself, had been befriended in that +same way by Barnabas at Jerusalem only a few years before. Humanly +speaking, it was through the friendly offices of Barnabas that Paul +had risen to prominence in the church.</p> + +<p>Fellows, I am not criticizing Paul (far be it from me), because Paul +was doubtless conscientious in his stand about Mark; but let me tell +you fellows—don't ever miss a chance to help some poor fellow who has +made a mistake, to make good. One of the finest things that will come +to your experience will be seeing your touch of sympathy and +encouragement put life and hope into some unfortunate "Down but not +out."</p> + +<p>What happened to Mark? Why, he made good. He made so good that Paul +afterward sent for him, and he and Paul put through some great schemes +together for Jesus Christ. And that was not all; one of the four +Gospels bears Mark's name. Think of what an honour that was! Peter got +him to help him write it. Yes, Mark made good.</p> + +<p>I heard of a fine young fellow the other night, only eighteen years +old, who because he had made a <a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>mistake—had made a bad break and lost +his job—who knowing he was himself to blame—had formed some habits +that contributed to his downfall—for all that was hopelessly dejected +and actually saying he wished he could die. Well, what do you think of +that? With all the best and biggest part of his life before him, with +youth and health and loving parents, and some good friends ready to +help him, wanting to die! Piffle!</p> + +<p>Do you know, I just wanted to slap that fellow on the back and bring +him to his senses. Make good? Of course he could. "Come back?" Sure! +There is just one thing to do with a failure, fellows. Get on top of +it with both feet and bury it—with success.</p> + +<p>I heard of an old horse, too old and sick to work. His owner wanted to +get rid of him but was unwilling to shoot him. The old horse just +wouldn't die. He was that spunky. One day, he dropped into a well in +the pasture, but he hit the bottom still upon his feet. His owner, +thinking it a chance now to rid himself of his horse, took a shovel +and began vigorously shovelling the dirt in to cover him. But as each +shovel of dirt landed on the horse's back, he shook his skin, like +horses do, and trod the dirt down under his feet. Soon, the horse's +back appeared at the top of the well, and in another moment the old +fellow climbed out and began to crop the grass.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Come up with a smiling face.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It's nothing against you to fall down flat;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But to lie there—that's a disgrace.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>"The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Be proud of your blackened eye!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It's how did you fight—and why."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Fellows, what must be the opportunity for rising, to a fellow whose +God says to him: "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is +made perfect in weakness!"</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 15:36-41.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XLIX" id="XLIX"></a>XLIX</h2> + +<h2>GREEN FRUIT</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, did you ever spend two days making a kite and just about +the time she was all ready, bridles adjusted and tail properly +balanced, it set in to rain?</p> + +<p>Can't you see that beautiful thing, done in blue, all spangled over +with silver stars, leaning up there in the corner, panting for its +maiden voyage into the empyrean? And you have wound on a stick a fine +strong cord from the ball you purchased and hold it in your hand as +you stand by the window, looking with disgust and disappointment at +what seems to be developing into "a United States rain." No, son, you +might as well get a book and settle down for the afternoon, for there +is no kite-flying to be done to-day. Thank your silver stars if you +get her up by tomorrow!</p> + +<p>And right here, fellows, make a note of this: whenever you are balked +in a scheme, stopped in your plans—right spang up against a stone +wall!—ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will prove a godsend and +a blessing to you in the end—IF you take it right.</p> + +<p>I wish every fellow could get the habit under such circumstances, of +stopping still a moment and saying <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>to himself: "Hey here, this thing +has a <i>meaning</i>—what can it be?" That will yield a better dividend +than fretting over the interruption. As a rule, he will discover +something he can be doing while he waits, something that immensely +strengthens the main chance.</p> + +<p>When Lord Clive, "the founder of the Empire of India," sailed from +England for Madras, at the age of eighteen, all impatient to enter +upon his life plan, storms overtook the ship and so far diverted her +course that within a month young Clive found himself stranded in a +port of Brazil instead of India. There he had to remain nine months +before he resumed his voyage; but what did he do? Chafe over the +interruption and delay? Bless you, no; he seized the opportunity to +master the Portuguese language, which accomplishment proved to be a +tremendous asset later on, in his great constructive work in India.</p> + +<p>Paul and Silas, as they travelled through those provinces of Western +Asia Minor, all afire with their great purpose of preaching the +Gospel, met blank disappointment. Upon arrival at each point they were +confronted with an unmistakable message from the Holy Spirit to keep +their mouths shut. What could it mean? What was the use? Should they +give it up? Should they sit down and sulk? No, said Paul, we will keep +agoing; the Lord will show us what He wants us to do when He is ready. +And sure enough, the big orders came one night in a vision to Paul, in +which a man appeared and delivered to him the great Macedonian +Call—the call which opened up to that patiently waiting servant +<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>"God's Greater Plan" for his life—a far more splendid one than he +had ever dreamed of.</p> + +<p>Fellows, I cannot give you any finer thing out of that period of +Paul's life, so full of fine things, than the thought of patient +waiting upon God's plan—His plan <i>for you</i>. And it does not mean to +sit still; rather the contrary. "All things come to him who (hustles +while he) waits." That is the revised version of an old saw, and I +like it better.</p> + +<p>Here is a sad case of a young fellow I know. He had an ambition to +shine, but he wasn't willing to do the tedious grinding and polishing +so vitally necessary to shining. He had a chance at college, but he +also wanted to be a social lion, all too soon. He could not afford it +in the first place; he couldn't spare the time from his studies, in +the next place; but he spent his dad's money anyhow and he let his +classes go bang. He did the social stunt—on credit. Result: he got +E's and F's on his grades and he was shipped. The faculty regards that +kind of a student as demoralizing to the morale of a first-class +institution. In fact he could not be called a student; he was an +"inmate," and it is hard to make an alumni out of inmates.</p> + +<p>This young fellow landed back home for the summer, "out of luck," in +debt, and a cruel disappointment to his doting parents. He had done +the social stunt, but he picked the fruit before it was ripe, and now +it's hurting him inside.</p> + +<p><i>He flew his kite in the rain!</i></p> + +<p>He decided he would make good by being a civil engineer. He wanted to +be a civil engineer right <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>away, but when he started in he found that +the first stages of civil engineering consisted in carrying a chain +and a rod up and down hill in the heat and taking orders from a smart +chap who looked through a telescope and made notes, so within a few +days he quit; he wasn't willing to pay the price. He thought he would +play the violin, but he wasn't willing to spend hours practising the +scales and simple fingering, so he laid aside the violin. He wanted to +play Schubert's Serenade right off, but on learning the cost, he +contented himself with whistling it.</p> + +<p>Fellows, he is of the sort that make up the great throng of +fourth-raters in the world to-day, drifting here and there; or +settling down with a family on his hands and a little two-by-four job +to eke out a bare living. And you fellows may as well face this fact: +you've got to <i>stint</i>, if you're going to pull off a stunt. No stint, +no stunt. Stinting is only another name for work and patience and +economy combined, and it brings its inevitable fruit—Success!</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Acts 16:6-15.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a></p> +<h2><a name="L" id="L"></a>L</h2> + +<h2>THE BEDOUIN SLAVE</h2> + + +<p>Say, fellows, I heard a story from the banks of the Nile which stirred +my blood. It may be only a legend, but it contains a big thought, and +I want you to have it. All day upon the hot sands the battle had +raged, and as the sun was setting a Bedouin chief fell, mortally +wounded. Quickly his watchful body-servant eased his master's dying +form from the back of the Arabian steed and dragged him out of the +thick fighting to a protected spot where he might say his last word +and die in comparative quiet. The chieftain's words were few but +significant. He simply said to his man: "Go and tell Allah that I +come." The loyal slave knew what it meant: only his spirit could carry +a message like that, and the clay house it occupied must be destroyed +before the spirit would depart.</p> + +<p>Possibly he hesitated as his hand grasped the hilt of his dagger, for +life was sweet even to a slave; back home was a slave-maid in the +house of his master, and she had been promised as his bride upon +return from this campaign in the valley of the Nile. Many a daydream +of the future had served to shorten the tedious marches over the hot +sands as he rode beside his <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>master. Long after the camp was asleep +the slave gazed at the star which seemed to guard her whose life and +future were bound up in his own. But only a moment he paused; one more +look at his chief, whose fast ebbing blood stained the sand upon which +he lay—this chief who was not only his master by right of actual +ownership, but one who had been always his benefactor and friend—one +searching look into the eyes whose merest glance he had learned to +interpret for a last sign of recognition; then with a firm, +unfaltering hand he drew his blade and thrust it deep into his own +heart, that his spirit might be free to fly "to Allah," with the +announcement of his master's coming.</p> + +<p>Now, fellows, there is something fine about that, even if it be only a +romance. Loyalty that rises to the height of complete +self-forgetfulness challenges the best that is in us. But, after all, +the picture falls to pieces because it is built upon a false faith and +a suicide. I am glad that you and I can to-day, in real life, take +part in something finer—something requiring just as superb loyalty, +and for a Cause that is really worth the best that is in us.</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ is the Chief of all chieftains. His last words upon earth +were, "Go ye—tell them." They were not the words of a dying chief, +but of one gloriously alive and triumphant over death, the last and +greatest enemy of all; not the command of one powerless in the +presence of his foes, but one who could say, "All power is given unto +me in heaven and in earth;" not a master who must send his obedient +slave on a fearful and futile mission alone, but one <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>who girds his +courier with the assurance, "And lo, I am with you alway, even unto +the end of the world."</p> + +<p>Saul caught a great vision of service when Jesus spoke to him in the +way. Prostrate upon the ground in the blinding light, Saul did not +say, "Lord, let me die!" He said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to +<i>live and do</i>?" You and I may say just as big and fine a thing as that +to our Lord to-day. Jesus' command to Saul was in substance, "Go +ye—tell them." It is the same to you and me.</p> + +<p>Will it cost you anything to obey? Yes, it will cost you your life. +But not in the hopeless way the Arab's slave gave his. Your hand is on +the hilt of the dagger, but Jesus is not requiring a man so much to +die for Him these days; He is calling for living couriers, those who +will give their lives <i>in life</i> for Him. So you plunge the dagger deep +into—not your heart, but your false pride—that thing which keeps you +back from "announcing" your Master's Name. You plunge it deep into +that thing in your life plan which would interfere with a real program +of witnessing for Jesus. With God's help you stab that habit of +thought or act which stifles your impulse to do His will and +embarrasses you in trying to serve Him. It is what Paul meant when he +said to the Galatians, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the +flesh with the passions and lusts."</p> + +<p>Fellows, every one of us can be a herald of our Master's coming to the +souls about us who have not realized His near approach. No matter what +our "business" or "profession," if it be a fair and honest one we can +make it a help to our witnessing. There <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>is no proper relationship in +life which may not afford the opportunity to tell about Jesus Christ +and His deathless love.</p> + +<p>Saul became a messenger of Christ for his whole time. Comparatively +few are called of God into the ministry; but every boy should +seriously face the question, under God's guidance, whether or not he +be one of those few. Take a pencil and draw a vertical line on a sheet +of paper. On one side the line put down the reasons why you should go +into the ministry; on the other side, the reasons why you should not. +Be honest with yourself and with God. Weigh each reason, for or +against, upon your knees. Ask God to give you a clear vision of the +course He wants you to take. With all the earnestness of your soul, +ask Him, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Be still and listen. +And then, fellows, you will hear that unmistakable but "still small +voice," and He will send you forth surefooted in a path plainly +marked.</p> + +<p>Oh, fellows, it is great to have clear running orders, with such a +Message and such a Master! Don't miss it.</p> + +<p class="citation5"><i>Read Matthew 28:16-20.</i><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<p class="center"><small><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></small></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a><a name="CHURCH_AND_SUNDAY_SCHOOL_WORK" id="CHURCH_AND_SUNDAY_SCHOOL_WORK"></a>CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK</h2> + + +<p> +<i>WILLIAM ALLEN HARPER<br /> +President Elon College,<br /> +North Carolina</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>Reconstructing the Church</b></p> + +<p>12mo.</p> + +<p>Dr. Harper solves the problems of federated and community churches, +industrialism and social reconstruction, etc., along lines compatible +with the teachings and spirit of Jesus.</p> + +<p> +<i>PETER AINSLIE, D.D.<br /> +Editor of "The Christian<br /> +Union Quarterly"</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>If Not a United Church—What?</b></p> + +<p>The Reinicker Lectures at the Protestant Episcopal Theological +Seminary in Virginia. 12mo.</p> + +<p>The first of a series of Handbooks presenting the proposals of a +United Christendom. Dr. Ainslie writes vigorously, yet without heat or +partisanship, and presents a cogent and lucid plea for the cause that +must be answered.</p> + +<p> +<i>FRANK L. BROWN<br /> +Gen'l Sec. World S.S. Assoc.<br /> +American Section</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>Plans for Sunday School Evangelism</b></p> + +<p>12mo.</p> + +<p>"Here is a record of a successful superintendent's experience, +supplemented by unusual opportunities to observe how other +superintendents and pastors won their scholars to Christ. If you buy +only one book this year—let it be this one."—<i>S.S. Times.</i></p> + +<p><i>HOWARD J. GEE</i></p> + +<p><b>Methods of Church School Administration</b></p> + +<p>16mo.</p> + +<p>A Text Book for Community Training Schools and International and State +Schools of Sunday School Methods. Margaret Slattery says: "Practical +and adaptable to schools of various sizes in either city or country. +Will meet a long-felt need. I endorse both plan and purpose heartily."</p> + +<p> +<i>E.C. KNAPP<br /> +General Secretary Inland Empire<br /> +State Sunday School Association</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>The Sunday School Between Sundays</b></p> + +<p>12mo.</p> + +<p>Mr. Knapp offers a large number of ideas and suggestions, all of which +are practical and capable of tangible realization. Pastors, teachers +and all other workers among folk will find Mr. Knapp's book of great +interest and special value.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>EXPERIENCES OF LIFE</h2> + + +<p> +<i>DONALD HANKEY</i><br /> +<i>Author of "A Student in Arms"</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>Letters of Donald Hankey</b></p> + +<p>With Introduction and Notes by Edward Miller, M.A. Illustrated, 8vo.</p> + +<p>"As a further revelation of the personality of the man who wrote 'A +Student in Arms,' these personal letters possess an interest difficult +to overestimate. They are intimate, human, appealing; they cover +Hankey's college days; the periods spent in foreign travel; the years +in Australia, and the fateful months he spent in France as one of the +immortal 'First Hundred Thousand,' and where he made the supreme +sacrifice."—<i>Christian Work.</i></p> + +<p><i>ARTHUR PORRITT</i></p> + +<p><b>The Strategy of Life</b></p> + +<p>A Book for Boys and Young Men. Foreword by John Henry Jowett, D.D. +12mo.</p> + +<p>"I wish that this little book might be placed in the hands of every +boy and young man throughout the Anglo-Saxon world: Here we have +practical guidance in the essential secrets which lie behind all +Social Reconstruction; even the fashioning of character and the +nourishing of life."—<i>Rev. J.H. Jowett.</i></p> + +<p> +<i>EDWARD LEIGH PELL</i><br /> +<i>Author of "Our Troublesome,<br /> +Religious, Questions"</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><b>Bringing Up John</b></p> + +<p>A Book for Mothers and Other Teachers of Boys and Girls. 12mo.</p> + +<p>"It is not only a mother's book, it is a book for fathers, for all +teachers of children, and also for pastors, who will be especially +interested in the author's efforts to separate what Christ actually +taught from the ideas which we have inherited from our pagan +ancestors, and who will find in the volume abundant fresh material on +the most pressing problem of our times."—<i>S.S. Times.</i></p> + +<p><i>A.H. McKINNEY</i></p> + +<p><b>Guiding Girls to Christian Womanhood</b></p> + +<p>12mo.</p> + +<p>In her progress towards maturity a girl requires something richer, +something of a more permanent, fundamental order. How this may be +provided is set forth by a writer who knows, not only the adolescent +mind, but the methods best calculated to enrich and develop the nature +as life becomes fraught with increasing responsibilities. The book has +an excellent bibliography and list of activities suitable for growing +girls.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "SAY FELLOWS--"***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16763-h.txt or 16763-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/7/6/16763">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/7/6/16763</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/16763-h/images/image001.png b/16763-h/images/image001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac1ffd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16763-h/images/image001.png diff --git a/16763.txt b/16763.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0f739f --- /dev/null +++ b/16763.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4957 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, "Say Fellows--", by Wade C. Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: "Say Fellows--" + Fifty Practical Talks with Boys on Life's Big Issues + + +Author: Wade C. Smith + + + +Release Date: September 27, 2005 [eBook #16763] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "SAY FELLOWS--"*** + + +E-text prepared by Bill Tozier, Barbara Tozier, Diane Monico, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +"SAY, FELLOWS--" + +Fifty Practical Talks with Boys on Life's Big Issues + +by + +WADE C. SMITH + +Author of "The Little Jetts Telling Bible Stories" + +[Illustration] + +New York Chicago +Fleming H. Revell Company +London and Edinburgh + +1921 + + + + + + + +Adapted from the Author's weekly Sunday School Lesson Treatments in +_The Sunday School Times_, by permission of the Editors. + +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street + + + + +_Dedicated to + +her whose instruction and example +first inspired in me the purposes +and ideals which make for patience, +courage, endurance and faith-- + +MY MOTHER_ + + + + +Introduction + + +"My teacher told me to write a composition on the last picture I +looked at," said Henry, a sixth grader, when he came in from school +the other day. "I had seen a picture of a fire engine," he added, "so +I wrote: + +"'With a clatter of hoofs and a whirr of wheels, the fire engine +dashed around the corner. The driver was crouched low in the seat. He +was driving like Jehu.' + +"But I could not spell Jehu, so I went to my teacher and asked, +'Please, how do you spell Jehu?' + +"'Spell what, Henry?' + +"'Jehu.' + +"'What in the world are you trying to say, boy?' + +"'I am trying to tell how fast a fire engine driver goes--as fast as a +chariot driver in the time of King David, I think it was.' + +"'Well, Henry, I think you had better say the engine driver drove as +fast as an ancient charioteer.'" + +"And did you?" I asked. + +"No, sir; I said, 'he was driving like mad.'" + +It is plain that this grammar-school teacher had never heard of the +Bible character who had interested her pupil, but the author of this +book knows how to spell "Jehu" to a questioning boy, or to a "gang" of +boys, or to a Sunday-school class of boys. + +Is there any boy who does not have a motor in his mind? A writer of a +method article in a recent issue of _The Sunday School Times_ related +an incident of a chap whom he described as "a motor-minded boy." He +said that he was sitting on top of a school desk at recess, kicking +back with his heels, and when asked what he was thinking about, +replied: "I was wondering, if my legs were horses, how fast they would +go!" + +It was with a realization of the fact that when a class of +Sunday-school boys assembles, their instinct is of one accord to turn +their legs into horses and to drive them as Jehu drove his pair of +Arabs, that our paper requested Wade Smith to take charge of its +Lesson Help for boys' classes. The management realized the truth of +the statement of Dr. Walter W. Moore, President of Union Theological +Seminary at Richmond, Va., when he said that Mr. Smith was the most +versatile man whom he ever knew. + +Although Mr. Smith was already contributing to its columns "The Little +Jetts Teaching the Sunday-school Lesson," he was asked also to +undertake the difficult but important task of writing the lessons for +teachers of, and students in, boys' classes. His highly acceptable +performance of this work is but another evidence of his versatility. + +Out of his own richly eventful and happy boyhood, as well as his +experience as a Christian father and a lifelong student of boys, small +and grown up, Mr. Smith wrote the chapters of this book. They appeared +week by week under the title of "Say, Fellows--" Letters from our +readers have testified to their helpfulness. The writer of this +Introduction teaches two Sunday-school classes--one composed of his +two boys in their home preparation for Sunday school, and the other an +Adult Men's class in the church to which he belongs. When his own boys +have finished studying their lesson in their Quarterlies, they almost +invariably come to their father and say, "Now read us what Mr. Smith +says, and then we will be ready for the lesson." + +On two occasions I recall introducing the lesson to my adult class by +recounting Mr. Smith's striking stories out of his own experience +about the boy who was drowned and restored to life, illustrating the +Resurrection Lesson (See page 60), and of his first and last deer hunt +(See page 76), and both times the attention of the men was gripped in +an unusual way by these remarkable incidents. No doubt, hundreds of +teachers have had similar experiences in making use of Mr. Smith's +illustrations. + +So great has been the helpfulness of the "Say, Fellows--" lessons that +the demand has come for their publication in the delightful book form +in which they now appear. In expressing my own pleasure that these +lesson treatments, having served their immediate purpose, are now to +be rescued from yellowing files and preserved under the covers of a +book, I am but voicing the hearty sentiment of the entire staff of the +paper. + +May God's rich blessing rest upon the pages of this book as it takes a +deserved place in the libraries of lovers of Motor-minded, +Jehu-driving boys. + +HOWARD A. BANKS, +_Associate Editor "The Sunday School Times." +Philadelphia, Pa._ + + + + +Contents + + +1. BUILDING 13 + +2. WORK 16 + +3. INVISIBLE! 19 + +4. MR. ALMOST 22 + +5. FISHING 25 + +6. SHOWING OFF 28 + +7. KEEPING FIT 31 + +8. QUESTIONING 34 + +9. LOYALTY 37 + +10. A GOOD SPORT 40 + +11. FEASTING 44 + +12. STEWARDSHIP 47 + +13. TALENTS 50 + +14. FIGHTING 54 + +15. DRIFTING 57 + +16. RESURRECTION 60 + +17. KNOWING HOW 63 + +18. FRIENDSHIP 66 + +19. ALABASTER 69 + +20. TELLING IT 72 + +21. READY! 76 + +22. REMEMBERING 79 + +23. GETTING EVEN 82 + +24. GREATNESS 85 + +25. "PAW, I WANTA BE SOMEBODY!" 88 + +26. "LET DOWN YOUR FEET!" 92 + +27. AN "UNASSISTED TRIPLE PLAY" 96 + +28. FORGIVING 100 + +29. PARADOX 103 + +30. FRAUD 106 + +31. THE BIG TASK 110 + +32. POWER 113 + +33. CHRISTMAS 116 + +34. AIMING HIGH 119 + +35. WAITING 122 + +36. ACTION 125 + +37. A CORONATION 128 + +38. DO IT RIGHT 130 + +39. KEEPING FAITH 133 + +40. THE GAME THAT CAME NEAR BLOWING + UP IN THE SEVENTH INNING 135 + +41. THE BITTEN APPLE 138 + +42. MY KINGDOM 141 + +43. A TOOL BOX 144 + +44. SAUL NIAGARA 148 + +45. "TURNING THE BATTLE AT THE GATE" 152 + +46. A KING IN RAGS 155 + +47. SHAKING UP PHILIPPI 158 + +48. GO IN YET--AND WIN! 162 + +49. GREEN FRUIT 166 + +50. THE BEDOUIN SLAVE 170 + + + + +I + +BUILDING + + +Say, fellows, look at Solomon building a temple! Ever see anything +like that? Yes, I have. I saw some boys building a dam. It was a peach +of a dam when they got it finished; and the little stream that +trickled along between the hillsides filled it up by next day, making +a lake big enough to put a boat in. But, oh, how those fellows worked! +For a whole week they brought rocks--big rocks--logs, and mud. Some of +those stones and logs were dragged and rolled a quarter of a mile. +They built right skillfully, too; they ricked it and they anchored the +cribs; they piled in the rocks and braced the supports. + +Work? I should think they did. From early morning until dark they +worked, hardly stopping long enough for meals. But it was truly _some_ +dam when they got through. Then came the big moment for which they had +laboured and endured: they closed the small outlet protected by +several sections of terra-cotta pipe at the base--and let her fill! + +Solomon went at building the temple pretty much the same way. The boys +who built the dam said they were going to make the best _boys'_ dam in +all that country around, and they did. Solomon said he was going to +put up the largest, the strongest, the finest, the best-looking +temple of all for God. He put one hundred and fifty thousand strong +men in the forests and in the quarries, getting out the finest timber +and the best stone; he had these materials brought by sea and by land; +he employed workers in brass, and stone-cutters and gold-beaters +wherever he could find the most skillful, regardless of the cost, and +he himself directed the work. + +Well, it was a peach of a temple, too. Nothing like it had ever been +seen before. Crowning the highest hill in Jerusalem, overlooking all +the country around, its marble walls, its shining brass pillars, its +white chiselled columns, and its golden interior, it shone like a gem +of dazzling beauty. When Solomon had finished it, he invited the Lord +to come into it, and "the glory of the Lord filled the house." + +Fellows, we are all building some kind of a temple, and we build some +on it every day. I saw a bleary-eyed dope fiend going along the street +the other day. He has built a temple--a temple to the god Appetite. +His temple is truly a sorry looking shack, but it is good enough for +the god he serves. I know a very seedy individual, going around +begging a living of whomsoever will give him a dime or a nickel. He +has built his temple to the god Idleness. It is a ramshackle affair, +to be sure, but it is plenty good for the god he serves. I know +another fellow who has built a very ordinary looking temple--rather +poor inside and out. He served the god "Let Well Enough Alone." There +are many temples like his, and little joy is in them; but they are +good enough for the god "Do-Little." + +I think of one more temple builder. Early in his boyhood he learned +that the human body, with its wonderful soul, is a temple for God to +live in. Said he, "If God is to live in my body, then it must be fit." +He began to think of everything he did for his health, for the +training of his mind, his hands and other members, as fitting or +_un_fitting the temple, according to whether it was good or bad. He +quickly saw that his choices of entertainment and recreation were as +important as his work, in the building he was putting up for God's +dwelling. One day he made the most important discovery of all: it was +that after all he might do to make the temple fit, it could never be +so until the doors were flung wide and the Lord Himself should come +in. Then, like Solomon, he "dedicated" it--and the Lord Jesus came in +and made the temple fit, for "the glory of the Lord filled the house." + +Which simply means that he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. A +fellow's biggest and best and grandest work is the Temple of the Lord. + +Let's get at the job. + + _Read 2 Chronicles 5:1-14._ + + + + +II + +WORK + + +Say, fellows, shake hands with Mr. Work. Humanly speaking, the way in +which you meet and hook up with this gentleman will have more to do +with determining your success in life than any other one thing. Mr. +Work is a member of the most amazingly successful concern in the +community. His senior partner is Mr. Faith. "Faith and Work, +Unlimited"--that's the style of the firm, and they certainly have put +across the biggest contracts ever known to the world. + +Some time I hope we may have the senior partner with us, but Mr. Work +is here to-day, and we shall get a-plenty from him. In fact, "Plenty" +is his middle name. Let's look him over. He is full of life and +vigour. See his muscles, firm and hard. Watch the flash of his eye. +Something there that inspires a fellow. Notice how he is in demand. +Everywhere, people want him. Get that cheery smile; it grew on a well +done job, and stays there by repetition of well done jobs. Observe his +steadiness, his confidence, and, withal, his acceptable humility. Why, +he looks good either in Scotch cheviot or in overalls. + +I want to tell you a secret about this fellow. He is often mistaken +for another celebrated and much honoured one--Mr. Genius. Thomas +Edison says that genius is just another name for conscientious hard +work. That being so, any fellow can make a success and an honoured +name who is willing to dig--and dig intelligently. + +But the best thing that can be said about work is to repeat what our +Lord said: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Work is a divine +characteristic, a divine institution. Our great God works. Jesus +Christ His royal Son worked incessantly when upon earth, and works now +continually. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are +the most tireless workers in the universe. Now what do you think of +anybody who could despise work? What would you think of one who +refused the work at hand and sat idly by, or went off on some useless +excursion to escape it, while God, unwilling to lose a minute, +ceaselessly works? + +Of course, fellows, I'm not saying we should never go a-fishing or +play a game of ball. Recreation is in the divine program. Every proper +recreation is a help to good work. We owe it to our job and to +ourselves to keep fit, and recreation is a part of the keep fit +schedule. We only need to be careful and keep work and recreation in +their right proportions. + +The bitterest pills a fellow has to take are those produced by +idleness. Idleness usually lets down the portcullis and the devil +comes across and takes charge. Not that work alone is sufficient to +keep us clean and out of trouble; oh, no, that would be a fatal error, +and many have fallen by it. The firm, you remember, is "Faith and +Work, Unlimited." Mr. Christian Faith is the senior partner of this +firm, and is absolutely necessary to the truly successful career in +the great business of life. We are simply looking over Mr. Work +to-day. + +One other wonderful thought, to me, about this matter of work, +fellows, is that when a boy is born into the world, his work is born +with him--his own particular task, his life-work. God Himself arranges +it. Isn't that fine? Who could do it so wisely? So you may depend your +job somewhere awaits you, if you have not already discovered it, and +it is a perfect fit. + +How to know your task? First, ask God. Pray over this thing. Then do +the thing next at hand, the duty calling now. Do it the best way you +know and put your level best into it. It is the surest way I know for +a fellow to find his best level; and usually you _work upward_ to it +when you seek it in that way. + +Listen, fellows, this is Gospel--"Well done, good and faithful +servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee +over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." + + _Read Romans 12:11 and Proverbs 22:29._ + + + + +III + +INVISIBLE! + + +Say, fellows, have you ever thought what a fight you could put up if +you were invisible? Why, you could walk right up in front of a fellow +and smash his nose or knock him down before he could put up his guard +or smash back--and even then he couldn't see you to hit you. Of course +that would be a cowardly thing to do, but I'm just saying "Suppose." +And this is to introduce right here your arch enemy, the devil, who is +not a "suppose" at all, but is very real, very personal, and very +invisible,--always present and ready to do his cowardly, dirty work. + +Somebody said people are like a lot of safes. We may be generally of +the same pattern, but each has a different combination. Perhaps none +of us knows the combination to any but our own, but the devil carries +them all in his note-book, and he never makes the mistake of trying to +throw a fellow with a drink when his combination is a cigarette, or +vice versa. + +The devil's finger is in all our affairs, and we can keep nothing +secret from him. No matter what we try to do, he is ever present to +try to make us do it his way. Even when we worship God, or pray, or +sing, he has the audacity to try to make suggestions. You think the +Wright brothers were clever to "conquer the air," and they were; but +the devil has won the title of "Prince of the power of the air"! His +airplane is instantaneous and noiseless; he requires no special +landing field, but can light on the lobe of your ear with a precision +that is uncanny, and, lighting there, he whispers things into your +heart that you would not dare to utter with your lips. _There_ are +three points scored on the Wrights in one breath, and there are many +others. + +The devil has won victories over the best men we can think of. Oh, how +he got David, and spoiled a wonderful record being made by the "man +after God's own heart." All in a trice he tripped David and led him to +break six of the ten Commandments at once--five to ten inclusive! And +he got Moses for a bad fall, and Elijah and Abraham and Jacob. He +simply crept up unseen and caught them with their guards down. + +But in spite of the fact that he took a fall out of each of those +strong and saintly characters, he met his match and more than his +match when he tackled our Saviour. He made the strongest attack that +could have been made, but Jesus overthrew him and put him to flight, +and to-day's big news is that there is _a way_ for you and me to throw +this fellow down. Simple enough, if you are on your guard. Did you +notice how Jesus handled him? He quoted Scripture to him. Scripture to +the devil is just like salt on a snail. He can't stand it. + +Jesus used God's Word, and that is invincible even against the devil, +our mightiest foe. Go into your Bible and select an assortment of +"devil-chasers." Memorize them and have them ready for instant use. +Like David, choose five smooth stones from the "Brook" and put them in +your scrip; then you will be ready for this giant, who stalks abroad +as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Only, he doesn't roar: +he is noiseless and invisible--don't forget that. + + _Read Matthew 4:1-11._ + + + + +IV + +MR. ALMOST + + +Say, fellows, meet Mr. Almost! + +He is one of the saddest, most pathetic figures in all the Bible +story, not because he was a villain or a murderer come to judgment, +but because he was so good and fine, and so nearly perfect, "on +points," and yet--flunked! + +But he was a lot lower down on the honour roll than he thought. "What +lack I yet?" he asked Jesus. Really, he couldn't see that he lacked +anything at all--and that alone was a sign of failure, if he had only +been wise enough to see it. + +Think of it, fellows, here was a man clean and safe and upright, as +touching the law, yet the fires of torment were leaping up to meet +him, along with Ananias the liar, and Judas the betrayer. Ananias did +give a _part_ of his money to the Lord, and Judas threw his blood +money back into the bribers' faces, but this Mr. Almost closed his +fingers tight over all his gold when the Lord called for it. + +Mr. Almost kept the Commandments from the time he was a boy. He +worshipped God only; he bowed down to no idol; was very careful to +speak God's name reverently; wouldn't carry so much as a toothpick +around on Sunday because it would be hauling wood and breaking the +Sabbath; honoured his parents; of course he never killed a person; +was pure in deed; took nothing which did not belong to him; told no +lie on his neighbours; and he never wished another's property might be +his own! Mr. Almost was _a pious man_. + +Jesus saw through Mr. Almost, saw through his luxurious robe and his +clean, washed skin, clear down into his stingy heart, and put his +finger instantly on the trouble. Jesus has a way of doing that. +"Having kept all the Commandments, and wanting to be perfect," said +Jesus, "now go, sell your property, and give the money to these poor +starving, dying people about you." + +Mr. Almost had actually _run_ to meet Jesus, to ask Him that question, +"What lack I yet?" says Mark's Gospel. Yes, _ran_. He evidently had no +suspicion as to the answer he would get. Doubtless he thought the +great Master would tell him of one more hand-washing necessary before +retiring, or possibly some gnat's burden which Mr. Almost had been +carrying around on his sleeve on the Sabbath. Flick that off and be +perfect! Mr. Almost wanted to make his perfection secure. He had all +kinds of earthly securities; now this one more, the security of +heaven, guaranteed by Jesus, and he would rest satisfied. He would +just nail that down in passing. But Jesus touched him _where he +lived_, and he crumpled up like some high floating dirigible whose gas +tank explodes in mid-air. + +Fellows, really I didn't want to bring Mr. Almost into this volume. He +gets on my nerve--and do you know why, fellows? _He's too much like +me!_ for I am rich. Yes, rich in all the abundance of God's wealth +which He has given me. I live in a wonderful land, a land of freedom +and independence and opportunity--the richest and most powerful in all +the world--and as a citizen of it all its resources are mine. I have +plenty to eat and sufficient to wear, lots of friends and +well-wishers. Life is beautiful and bright and comfortable; while just +at my elbow, fellows, are many poor, starving, dying human +beings--men, women, little children. The world is closely drawn +together now, and there is never a time but that in some section of it +there is famine and suffering. If we have the means to give and will +give it to relieve human suffering, there are always reputable +agencies ready to properly dispense it. + +None of us can despise Mr. Almost, fellows, if we eat a square meal +and turn a deaf ear to the calls to help the suffering and the needy. + +This is the acid test. + + _Read Mark 10:17-27._ + + + + +V + +FISHING + + +Say, fellows, the biggest and finest surprise a certain boy ever got +was on that day when he was called out of the shop to the manager's +office, and, reaching there trembling with fright, was told that he +was promoted and would from that time have a share in the profits of +the business! + +It was almost too good to be true. Immediately the shop looked +different--the whole plant looked different--the men, the tools, the +materials, the very smoke from the big chimney, all took on a kind of +glory. The rows of machines looked like a parade and the mingled roar +and grinding of them sounded like a brass band at a picnic. The dull +routine of a daily schedule was suddenly changed to a thrilling +program in every detail. + +Something had happened--not to the shop, but to him. His interest was +changed. Now, instead of simply doing his daily task for daily pay, he +was to share in the big objectives of the whole plant; he was taken +into confidence and partnership with the management. He was actually +to share and rejoice in the achievements of a business which exported +its products to every corner of the world! With what joy he realized +that his capacity for higher and larger service had been recognized, +and that now he would have fellowship not only with the men of the +shop, but also with the head of the plant. + +Fellows, that is about what happened to Peter and Andrew and James and +John that morning on the shore of the lake. They were simply engaged +in making a living. One day was pretty much like another. Sometimes, +perhaps, the fishing was good, sometimes not so good. Life was just a +day to day affair, and rather disappointing somehow, to souls with +capacity for so much larger and finer things. Suddenly the Master, the +Creator and Proprietor of the world, appeared and said: "Boys, it's a +dull life at best--just fishing for fish; come and join me in a really +big and worth-while task--fishing for men!" + +And those four men caught the vision and followed Jesus. Life for them +took on a new meaning that day. Instead of a daily grind it became an +inspiring program with a grand objective. + +I am glad that God is so great and that His plans are so large that He +is still calling out men to share them with Him and work out their +fulfillment. And you and I, if we are wise, will gladly hear that call +and promptly respond, for we will realize that the transient things we +daily seek are not sufficient to give us any real or permanent +satisfaction, and that we have a capacity for larger and better +things. + +Oh, I don't suppose we can all be ministers and missionaries, though +many of us may have that highest of all privileges, but we shall also +find that a merchant's life can be so planned as to be a means of rich +service to God; that a lawyer, after all, can be a force for Christ's +kingdom; that an engineer can lay out his life-work so as to make +straight the path and level the road for the King; that a +school-teacher can use his influence to bring pupils to the Master +Teacher; that a physician has peculiar opportunity to quicken the +spiritual lives of his patients; and that any legitimate occupation +can be made to serve man's chief end, which is "to glorify God and +enjoy him forever." + +And when you and I catch and follow that vision of our life task, +whatever it is, the whole plant changes, whether our job is in the +shop or in the office, or on the farm or in the schoolroom or pulpit, +because we have tasted of the power and fellowship of a Spirit-filled +life and a God-used career. + +Listen, fellows, He stands now in the morning of life, on the shore of +your little lake and calls you to a wonderful partnership! + +Let's follow Him! + + _Read Matthew 4:18-22._ + + + + +VI + +SHOWING OFF + + +Say, fellows, it's great fun to "show off." Honest now, isn't that so? +If you've got some rare thing the other fellows haven't got, what fun +to have them come from all over the block to go up in the attic with +you to see it and watch you "work it"! + +I knew a boy who made an airplane. Of course it was just a toy, but it +had all the parts. He had gotten a pattern from a mechanical magazine, +with explicit instructions; he scoured around and got the dozen or +more materials necessary, then worked for days and some nights in the +basement. Finally, the thing was completed. It had a twist-rubber +propeller, and would actually fly a little--not much. But it was a +thing of beauty, and its varnished butterfly planes spread +majestically and glistened in the sunlight. There were the stays and +the rudder, the pilot's seat and the complicated triggers by which it +was supposed to be governed. Well, the boys came from far and near to +look at it, and the biggest fun the owner had was showing it to some +new boy who hadn't seen it before. That is all right, too, if you do +it in the proper spirit, but nobody likes to see a fellow get "cocky" +over his luck, no matter how good or how rare it is. + +Solomon had the show stuff all right. The Queen of Sheba heard about +it away down south in her African kingdom, and came many miles with a +caravan of camels to see for herself. This man Solomon was a wonder. +He answered her best riddles without batting an eyelash--and she had +some corking hard riddles, too. When she tired of testing him he +showed his wonderful house, his gorgeous throne of ivory overlaid with +gold, his great flocks and herds for his household table, his army of +servants, his courtly ministers, his treasuries piled with gold, and a +hundred other sights richer and finer than she had ever known. + +But the big event of that show day was the temple! Of course it was, +for Solomon had made it the biggest and finest thing in the kingdom. +Even if he hadn't told her she would have seen that. And there was but +one way to explain it: Solomon's God, to whom the temple had been +built, was the secret of Solomon's glory and power. That was the +impression the queen carried home. + +It is said that when one of the princes of India visited England, he +was overcome by the display of the wealth and grandeur of the empire. +After seeing the palaces of Buckingham and Windsor, and the Halls of +Parliament; after getting a glimpse of British shipping and commerce +plying to every known port; after viewing the greatest navy in the +world and witnessing a review of the army at Aldershot--he exclaimed +to Queen Victoria: + +"Tell me, Your Majesty, what is the secret of it all?" + +In answer the queen took a Bible from a near-by table and placed it +in the prince's hand. "This," she said, "God's Word, is the basis of +all--God is the giver." + +Fellows, if there is anything you take pride in, remember the Giver. +Don't make the mistake of Nebuchadnezzar, who actually talked to +himself about how clever he was and how great he was to build Babylon +by the might of his own power (Dan. 4:30, 31). Even while he spoke +those boasting words God punished him by taking it all away from him. + +But it is not sufficient simply to refrain from boasting. You and I +must see to it that God gets the glory, for God has given whatever we +have that is worth-while. Let the presentation be so made that whoever +witnesses it will pass out saying: "Surely God is the secret of that +fellow's success!" + +Real and permanent greatness is the kind that exalts God above all. + + _Read 1 Kings 10:1-10._ + + + + +VII + +KEEPING FIT + + +Say, fellows, I wouldn't take a lot for the privilege of handing you +young champions this message: for it comes right out of the heart of a +King to the princes of the Blood. + +Yes, something doing in athletics this time,--and the Big Event for +which each one of you is preparing, whether you know it or not. + +"Find all that in the Bible?" + +Sure! that and more. Why, fellows, don't you know the Bible has more +dealings right where you live and play and work and study and eat than +any other book that was ever written? Just let me read you a part of +to-day's Scripture lesson out of Weymouth's translation, which is the +same as your Bible--only saying it in the kind of language spoken +to-day instead of that of many years ago. + +Listen to First Corinthians 9:24-27: "Do you not know that in the +foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You +must run like him, in order to win with certainty. But every +competitor in an athletic contest practises abstemiousness in all +directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable +wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish. That +is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who +does not inflict blows on the air, but I hit hard and straight at my +own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have +been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected." + +Now, fellows, it was Paul saying that--writing to the Corinthians, who +knew all about the Corinthian games and races, and contests of +strength, skill, and endurance. And so do you know how the coach lays +his hand on your shoulder, looks you straight in the eye, and says: +"Listen, son, we've got to win that game,--you understand? From this +on, cut the big eats. No rich stuff and no stuffing. Simple diet. No +smoking. No late hours. Early to bed. Keep clean; exercise daily +according to directions. Keep fit! Do you get me?" + +And you meekly nod and say: "Yes, sir, boss." Do you have to do that? +Oh, no, you could drop off the team if you didn't like the conditions, +but you don't want to drop off and you comply with the conditions. You +surprise yourself by your self-control. You are in on that game, and +you're in to win. It is the event of the season. It will be the thrill +of a lifetime to win. So you are temperate because you want the glory +of winning--glory for your team; glory for your school. + +Fellows, thus your body becomes the temple of a living hope. And it is +all right. Bless your hearts, there are few things finer than that +self-mastery which enables a boy to deny his natural appetite for the +sake of an ideal--even though it be a sporting ideal. + +And I think God designed it so. He is continually teaching us the +deeper and richer truths by leading us up to them through our +experiences with things we can touch and taste and see and hear. + +To-day He is pointing you and me, not to the temporary honour of an +athletic victory, but to the eternal honour of gaining the mastery +over our appetites for the sake of keeping our bodies, minds, and +hearts for His own indwelling. And He, Himself, is our Coach, doing +something which no other coach can--remaining constantly beside us, +within us, establishing that wonderful endurance--that indescribable +something within us which strives and strives and conquers! + +Fellows, talk about thrills! there is nothing like the thrill that +comes of being used--effectively used--by Him. The thrills of our +athletic victories die away with the shouting, but the deep +satisfaction of "keeping fit" for God's service grows finer and finer +as the days go by. + +Oh, say, fellows, _this_ is the thrill of Real Life! + + _Read 1 Corinthians 6:13-20._ + + + + +VIII + +QUESTIONING + + +Say, fellows, make a note of this: If you question Jesus in the effort +to trip Him, you throw yourself down; but if you question Jesus in +order to know and do His will, you may confidently stand upon your +feet and defy anything that threatens your peace, your happiness, or +your success. + +"How can a fellow question Jesus in these days, like the Pharisees?" +did I hear you ask? This way: You can question God's Word, its truth, +its justice, its wisdom in your particular case. Millions are to-day +questioning in that way; millions who do not want to change their +ways, millions who would like to overthrow God's laws, because they +want to go on in their wickedness and our Lord's teachings are a +continual reproach to them. But they are having no better success in +it than the Scribes and Pharisees had in Jesus' day. + + "Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith's door, + And heard the anvil ring the vesper chimes; + Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor + Old hammers worn with beating years of time. + + "'How many anvils have you had,' said I, + 'To wear and batter all these hammers so?' + 'Just one,' said he, and then with twinkling eye, + 'The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.' + + "'And so,' I thought, 'the Anvil of God's Word + For ages skeptic blows have beat upon, + Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard, + The Anvil is unharmed, the hammers gone.'" + +Now, fellows, those Scribes and Pharisees ought to have known better +than to try to tangle Jesus in His talk. Already they had been +astonished by the wise words He said, by the unmistakable "authority" +shown in His manner and teachings, by the power of His mere word over +diseases and devils. These men were the devil's own servants. There +are many such to-day, and they never seem to realize until too late +that _their_ master will allow them to walk right into a hopeless +fix--caught in their own trap. + +Let's run our eye down the closing verse of this chapter of Matthew, +as it tells better than any other how completely squelched were these +critics of Jesus: "And no one was able to answer him a word, neither +durst any man from that time forth ask him any more questions." + +But there is a kind of questioning which we do want to practise. One +of the wisest and finest things a fellow can do is to make it a rule +to ask Jesus _some_ questions every day in His Word. Make a place in +your day's schedule--make it in the morning, first thing if possible, +or very soon after you are up. Open your Bible with a question, and +let that question be: "Lord Jesus, what would you like to tell me +to-day out of these verses of Scripture which I am about to read? +What thing in my life would you warn me against, or what thing should +I do which I am not doing? Or, is there a better way I should try? + +"Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." + +Fellows, start a day like that--honestly--and _you cannot fail_! + + _Read Matthew 22:15-46._ + + + + +IX + +LOYALTY + + +Say, fellows, what is the most loyal thing you ever did? I should like +to know. Was it when you waded into a big bully who was licking your +little brother, and took the drubbing yourself? Or was it when some +fellows accused you of being tied to your mother's apron strings, and +you flashed back at them: "Yes, and she is the finest mother a boy +ever had!" Or was it when you sat up all night in a coach on a +railroad trip to root for your team next day on the enemy's field? + +I heard of a British boy in Flanders who was brought back of the lines +for surgical treatment, and when they opened his shirt they found +tattooed on his breast the words: _For My King!_ I read of a French +lad whose arm had to be amputated at the shoulder, having been +shattered by a German shell. When he regained consciousness, the +surgeon, moved with deep sympathy, said, "Oh, my poor boy, I am so +sorry you lost your arm!" The boy's eyes snapped as he answered: +"Lost! No, don't say that; I _gave_ it to France!" + +Each one of you fellows has a tremendous capacity for being loyal to +some thing, some principle, or _somebody_. It is a costly part of your +make-up, because it will cause you to make sacrifice. What are you +choosing as the object of your loyalty? + +Fellows, I want to offer you King Jesus as the One upon whom you can +spend your loyalty to the limit. There is none like Him. He is the +chief among ten thousand. When He gives you a task He gives you at the +same time the power to do it. When He sends you to men, He opens the +hearts of those to whom you are sent. You can undertake anything for +King Jesus without fear, no matter how difficult or how impossible the +task may seem. + +Why, fellows, think of those two disciples going after that colt for +Jesus their King to ride upon! He sent them for it. The beast belonged +to some one else, yet they were to untie it and bring it. If the owner +objected, all they were to say was: "The Lord hath need of him." That +would settle it. They brought it as directed. That was faith, and that +was loyalty. + +To-day King Jesus wants messengers--not to send out for asses, but +into the haunts of sin for lost men and women; and into the social, +commercial, and industrial world to present His claims. Some, hearing +the call, are answering, "But how do I know I will succeed in that +sort of business? Will I be contented in such work? Will it pay? Will +it keep me in a comfortable living? Will men come when I tell them?" +Listen, fellows, King Jesus says: "All power is given unto +me--Go!--and lo, I am with you alway!" That is sufficient, it is the +King's own word for it; and here is the place where you can exercise +your priceless loyalty to the limit, and never know a moment's +regret. The King Himself goes with you. + +The loyal servants of King Jesus never have to root for a losing game; +victory is assured from the beginning. + + _Read Mark 11:1-11._ + + + + +X + +A GOOD SPORT + + +Say, fellows, I overheard a remark the other day as I passed a bunch +of boys down on the corner. One of the boys was saying, "Oh, he's a +good sport, all right," and I wondered just what that boy thought it +took to make a good sport. About that time one of the boys whom I knew +pulled out of the crowd and coming my way overtook me, so I asked him +who was the "good sport" the fellows were talking about. + +"Why," he said, "it was Jim Love; when he was in the two-mile +cross-country foot race the other day, with a good chance of getting +ahead of Tom Locke, who won it, Jim stopped long enough to help a guy +across a footlog with a sack of potatoes or something--and even then +came in just a few yards behind Tom. He would have won, but for that +stop; but he said the old man looked as if he was about to fall off +the footlog. Tom saw it, too, but he waded the creek and got a better +lead on Jim." + +It did me good to think of those fellows classing Jim up as "a good +sport," after I knew what had happened. They had the right idea. I +believe our Lord would have called Jim a good sport, too, if He had +been telling the boys of to-day about it, because the Christ spirit in +a fellow is what makes him a "good sport" in the highest sense. Once +when a proud Pharisee was trying to trap our Lord with a "catch +question," Jesus answered him with a story very much like that which +made the boys call Jim Love a good sport. + +The Pharisee asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbour?" and Jesus told him +about the Good Samaritan. A man was travelling from Jerusalem down the +rough mountain road to Jericho, and was attacked by bandits, beaten, +robbed, and left lying beside the road half dead. A priest came along, +but he was in a hurry; he had important religious duties awaiting him, +and besides, that fellow looked as if he was in bad and it would take +a lot of time and trouble to "undertake" him, so Mr. Priest just +hummed a little tune to himself, looked at the sky and passed on. + +Then came a Levite. He got down off his donkey and stepped over and +looked at the poor fellow. Yes, he was breathing, but so near dead he +probably would not last long, so why worry? So passed on the Levite. +But next came along a man whom the priest and the Levite despised +because he was a Samaritan. They regarded him as a very poor sort of a +citizen. + +But the Samaritan had a heart in him and he had a way of saying to +himself when he saw anybody in distress: "Suppose I was in that +fellow's fix, what would I like to have done for me?" When he asked +himself that question on this occasion, the answer came quick and +strong: "Get down and help him all you can; yes, your business is +urgent, too, but here is a fellow-man in hard luck and you've got the +stuff to help with!" + +That is the way the heart of a good sport talks back to a fellow, and +a good sport listens when his heart speaks, and a good sport acts +quickly. So the Samaritan got down off his donkey and ran to the man, +felt his pulse, spoke to him, loosened his shirt and looked into that +ugly wound all bleeding. Then back to his travelling sack and out with +the oil and wine. + +Pouring in the soothing and healing stuff, he doubtless said: "There +now, old fellow, you're feeling better already; just keep steady a +bit, and we'll get you out of this; a little water? yes, hold on a +minute--" and down to the trickling stream he runs and brings a cool +drink in his little leather cup. + +Ah, it was fine to see that beaten man revive! He opened his eyes wide +and looked the gratitude he was not yet able to speak. Soon the +Samaritan got the whole story of the attack, listening with +sympathetic indignation as the wounded man told how it happened, how +he was taken by surprise by those cowardly ruffians, stripped, robbed, +and beaten into insensibility. Directly he was trying to raise up on +his elbow, and the Samaritan said: + +"Now you just put your arm around my neck and hold steady while I +lift. That's it, get your weight on your right foot, lean forward, and +I'll get you atop this beast. Ah! that's the stuff, you're getting +stronger every minute--now steady just a moment, let me pick up that +oil bottle--all right--Get up! Bess--steady, girl, keep your hoofs in +the path, and we'll make it fine. There, that's the movement. + +"The inn is only a mile down the road now, friend, and there is food +and a good bed awaiting you--oh, well, that's all right about your +money being taken, I'll take care of that. The innkeeper and I are +good friends, and likely with the good treatment you'll get you will +be on your way in a couple of days--" + +And so they go, the donkey picking her way carefully over the rougher +places under the restraining voice of her master, while the wounded +man leans heavily upon his benefactor. + +Then, you know the rest, fellows. That despised Samaritan saw the +thing clean through. He did not leave "his neighbour" until he had +spent a night with him at the inn and had an understanding next +morning with the innkeeper as to his safekeeping until able to resume +the journey. + +And what did our Lord teach in that graphic story? Why, simply this: +Anybody whom you can help is your neighbour. If there is a poor man at +my door needing something I can give, he is my neighbour. Or, if there +is a rich Chinaman six thousand miles across the seas, needing the +spiritual help I can send him through my prayers, my gifts, or my +personal attention--he is my neighbour. Distance, short or long, is +not the measure of neighbourhood; but need and my ability to help are +the tests which determine how near by is my brother man. + +The Boy Scouts have a fine motto: "Do a Good Turn Daily." There is +just one better--"Do a Good Turn Whenever You Can," and that is loving +your neighbour. + + _Read Luke 10:25-37._ + + + + +XI + +FEASTING + + +Say, fellows, a man raised a glass of water to his mouth to take a +drink; some one passing struck his elbow, and--! Now an interesting +thing has happened: each one of you fellows got a picture, complete in +all details, to a climax. Yet there was no real picture; it was all in +your imagination, spurred by twenty-one simple words. And it was a +_moving picture_, too, and it went away past the word-spurs, because +you painted the balance of it yourselves like a flash. You saw the +glass fall and smash on the floor, and you saw the water spatter the +man's feet and trousers--then some of you saw him jump back and look +up quick and kind of mad like at the person passing, and maybe say +something rough. + +Well, that's a wonderful machine you've got there, fellows; anything +that can make a moving picture out of a thin line of material like +that--a really for-the-moment interesting picture, with all the +finishing touches--has a most valuable and useful outfit. Now Jesus +knew His hearers had outfits of that wonderful kind, so in speaking to +them He helped them draw pictures which would enable them to see some +very interesting and startling things--things which they needed to +know worse than a dying man needs a doctor. + +Most of the pictures which He drew in this way were to show what the +kingdom of heaven is like. Men in those days, just as nowadays, were +walking around bumping right up against the kingdom of heaven without +knowing it. So Jesus drew pictures to help them see this wonderful +kingdom, in order that they might not only become glad citizens of it +but also to escape an awful fate. + +The picture I want to present is of a great and rich king who was also +both good and generous, making a marriage feast for his son and +inviting a large number of guests. + +Now, fellows, use your fine imagination again. You saw the king's +surprise when the first servants reported; you saw him knit his brows +(like this) and stand silently thinking a moment before deciding to +send a second word; but can you imagine his astonishment a little +later, when two of that second squad came running in, all breathless, +and told him that though they fully explained the magnificence of the +wedding supper, some turned upon their heels with a flimsy excuse, +others rudely laughed outright in the messengers' faces, and--oh, the +horror of it!--still others actually stoned and beat some of the +messengers to death!--and their bodies were even at that moment lying +in the street, being licked by dogs. + +I say, can you see the king now? I think you can, for you have heard +what he did. Yes, his servants went out again to those same people, +but this time with swords and spears and fire, a terrible army of +them, marching to the dread drum-beat of judgment, "and destroyed +those murderers and burned up their city." + +Yes, fellows, I know what you are saying. You are saying, "Well, I +don't see how anybody could be as big a fool as that!" And yet, do you +know that people are just as foolish to-day? Jesus told that parable +to help us, too. The kingdom of heaven is just as close to you and to +me; the greatest King of all--that's Jesus--is inviting boys and men +to come in to the feast of usefulness and happiness and joy of an +out-and-out Christian life, a feast which He has Himself prepared, and +some are turning their backs upon His call, unwilling to take the +King's own word for it that they will have the time of their lives, +which will grow sweeter and finer and better as the days go by, and +never, never end! + +I tell you, fellows, there's nobody who can make a feast like Jesus; +things taste even a lot better than they look on the card, for He +always gives more than He promises. Don't _you_ make the mistake of +turning down His invitation. It would be a tragedy. Let's answer His +gracious call to-day like this: + + "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, + Over mountain or plain or sea; + I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; + I'll be what you want me to be." + + _Read Matthew 22:1-10._ + + + + +XII + +STEWARDSHIP + + +Say, fellows, how much is a boy worth in money? The United States +Labour Bureau in 1914 estimated the average cost of rearing a boy to +the age of sixteen was then $1,325. It must average at least $1,500 +now. Well, fellows, that is what you cost; are you worth it? I am +talking of actual, not sentimental, values. Father and mother wouldn't +take a million dollars for any one of you, I suppose, but that does +not mean you are worth it. An investment of $1,500 ordinarily is +expected to yield at least six per cent. a year, which is $90. + +I know a fourteen-year-old boy who is earning $7 a week. He gives it +all to his widowed mother on Saturday night. She gives him back a +dollar of it. He first takes out ten cents for his church pledge and +five cents for Sunday-school. Then he puts fifty cents in his savings +bank. He has about $25 in the bank. The remainder, thirty-five cents, +he spends as his fancy dictates. He is a steady boy and it is +reasonable to count upon his putting in eleven months a year at his +work, allowing one month for vacation. His gross financial value to +his mother for the year, therefore, is not less than $280. It costs +her about $12.50 a month to provide his food and clothing. That takes +off $150, so his net financial value a year is $130, which is six per +cent. on $2,166. Thus you see that fourteen-year-old boy is a paying +investment on considerably more than the average cost of a +sixteen-year-old boy, and I do not wonder that that fellow's mother +would not take a million for him, for the money part of his value is +the least of all. + +But this is not by any means an accurate way to arrive at a boy's real +value. The more fortunate boy will be going to school nine months of +the year. He is preparing for a later very much higher value than the +boy who is denied an education, and while he may not be earning money +now, he is earning a certain knowledge, skill, and development which +will give him equipment of high value. At any rate, sooner or later, +fellows, you find yourself with a capacity for earning and +accumulating money. And, remember, in your relation to your money, +that after all it is not _yours_, but God's--no matter how it comes +into your hands. + +In Luke 16 is the account of Dives, whom God permitted to be rich, but +who made the fatal mistake of using his wealth for the sole purpose of +gratifying himself. He built a luxurious home, he bought fine clothes +and feasted every day on costly food. There were suffering and want +all about him, but he turned his face away from the needy. One poor +fellow named Lazarus, too weak to walk and all covered with sores, was +laid at this rich man's gate where he was bound to see him day after +day. + +The dogs came and licked the poor man's sores, but Dives passed him +by. Lazarus got a servant to ask for the scraps taken from the rich +man's table, but he needed other help. God gave Dives money and gave +him an opportunity to serve his fellow-man with it, but Dives failed +to catch the idea, somehow. He foolishly spent his money upon himself, +and one night Dives lay down to sleep on a full stomach and woke up in +torment. + +Fellows, money was his undoing. Money can be a curse, or it can be a +blessing. All depends upon whether or not you recognize God's +ownership, acknowledge it, and act upon it. Some of the saddest lives +ever lived are those built around a wrong conception of their relation +to money. Some of the happiest and most successful lives are those +built upon the principle that money is a God-given trust to be used +for Him. + +Fellows, what are you going to be worth--to God, and to your +fellow-man? + + _Read Luke 16:19-31._ + + + + +XIII + +TALENTS + + +Say, fellows, one morning in spring a boy came to me and said: "Dad, +let's go fishing; I saw the bass jumping in the lake just now, and +that means they are ready to bite." + +"All right," I replied, "you get the bait and the lines ready and we +will go at four this afternoon." He did so. + +Then we went around to the point on the lake where he had seen the +fish jumping. I made a dandy throw, first try, and as the bait began +bobbing in and out among the flags I could just see myself hanging a +beauty. I was watching the line so hard that I forgot the boy for two +or three minutes; then, turning, I saw him standing there looking very +sad. + +"What's the matter," I said, "why don't you unwrap your line and +fish?" + +He whimpered: "I want to fish for bass, with a big line, like yours." + +"Why," I said, "you couldn't handle a big rod and line like this; and +if you could, you would get it tangled up in those flags out there; +now you just unwrap your little line, put a little worm on your little +hook and drop it over there by that stump, and you will catch a little +perch." + +Well, he didn't want to do it, but because I ordered him to do it he +cast in his hook. In the meantime, I was watching my minnow again; it +was playing beautifully, but getting no strike. I was still watching +it intently, when all of a sudden I heard a great splashing beside me, +and looking around--there was a sight! That boy's little pole was +nearly bent double, and at the end of his line threshing and churning +the water at a terrific rate was a big fish! The boy was having the +time of his life; oh, he played him, he tightened him and slacked him, +but all the time bringing him nearer to the bank. + +In about a half minute (it seemed much longer) there was _a +pound-and-a-half bass_ flapping out there on the grass. In the +meantime, the big hook continued to do nothing--and it never did, that +afternoon. We went home with the one bass, and that night the family +sat around the supper table and greatly enjoyed the fish _caught on +the little hook_. + +God will honour the fellow that does the best he can _with what he has +in his hand_. And perhaps it will be a far greater honour than you +ever dreamed of. + +When our Lord told the parable He did not mean to make small of the +fellow who has only small ability. He condemned the fellow who refused +to use what ability he had because it was small and because he did not +have as much as somebody else to work with. Let's suppose the last +part of that parable had read this way: + +"Then he which had received the One Talent came and said, Lord, you +only gave me one talent, and when I saw you giving that other fellow +five and still another two, I was all cut up about it. I did not see +why you should give them more to work with than you gave me. I boiled +inside. I said to myself, Well, if that is the way he treats me, I +will simply take his talent and bury it until he comes back; then I +will dig it up and hand it back to him just as he handed it to me. + +"But then I thought again, and I remembered that it was your property +you were distributing, and you had a perfect right to do it as you +chose. I remembered that you are both a wise and a kind master; you +have never given me a reason to question your love for me and your +interest in me; and you know me and my capacity for handling your +property far better than I know myself. So I decided to take that One +Talent and work with it and do the very best I could with it. And, +Lord, I did; and here, see--I have gained another one to go with it; +here are _two talents_." + +Bless your life, fellows, do you know what his lord would have said to +that man? He would have said to him exactly what he said to the other +two men. + +A poor boy in New York got himself a job at a little lunch stand. He +found he had a little talent for making the lunches attractive and +people would buy them. He stuck at it, saved his earnings, and after a +while bought out the lunch stand. He enlarged the variety of his +lunches and added some other goods. And, to make a long story short, +he is now acknowledged to be the greatest hotel man in the world. + +The fellow who uses the talent he has, be it one, two, or five, and +takes Jesus for his partner, is bound to be a success. + + _Read Matthew 25:14-30._ + + + + +XIV + +FIGHTING + + +Say, fellows! of all the boys in the Old Testament, David is my +choice. There was something about that chap that was "real class." + +If David were to happen in your bunch, doubtless when you got to +knowing him every one of you would want him for a chum. He was the +kind of fellow that real boys like: not a braggart and not a "sissy," +but generally when it came to his turn to bat he smashed the ball for +a clean hit. Or if he should happen to strike out, he didn't slam the +stick to the ground, but with a smile stepped back and turned a +handspring and lit on his feet rooting for the next man up. Of course, +you know there was not any baseball in those days, but that is about +the way David would have played the game. + +Out there minding the sheep, David didn't get moody. It might have +been a slow job for others, but not for him. No, he had a harp and he +made music with it. He had a sling, and could hit a quarter on a +telegraph pole with it--if there had been quarters and telegraph +poles. But there were other things to use that sling on, and they gave +David a touch of real life. + +David knew that lions, bears, and wolves lurked in the forests near +the pastures in which his sheep must graze, and he got ready for them. +Notice, fellows, here is one of the secrets of David's success: he was +always ready. His big opportunity came when he arrived at King Saul's +camp on that errand for his father, and he was ready for it. + +He was ready, first, because he believed God's power was greater than +any army, and that God would fight for any one who fought for Him. Did +you notice in the Bible account how David told the king that God would +handle the matter; and how he also told Goliath out there on the +field, while all men held their breath, that it was Goliath plus +sword, spear, and shield, against David plus God? + +And so God helped. One smooth stone, the first out of the sling, +crunched through that big bluffer's head like a baseball through a +stained glass window, and the Philistine fell on his face. + +Everybody's giant comes some day. Every fellow's big opportunity comes +one time, at least, and he can be just as ready for it as David was. + +That's the big news to-day. + +I like to think of the five smooth stones as representing five +characteristics of David's readiness. + +_First Stone:_ (the one he slung) _Faith._ We have been talking about +that--faith in God. David prayed as he picked up those stones, you +know he did. + +_Second Stone: A pure heart._ God searched it that day at Bethlehem +and approved him for anointing. David was clean. You would never hear +him telling smutty stories, nor did he think them. + +_Third Stone: Industrious habits._ Think of his skill in playing the +harp, and his effectiveness with that deadly sling. + +_Fourth Stone: A courageous spirit._ A lion's mane, a bear's skin, and +a giant's head, of which we know, bear testimony to this. No wonder +the shepherd boy could stand before a king and reason with him in the +presence of a national crisis. + +_Fifth Stone: A humble spirit._ Listed last, but not least by a good +deal. "Thy servant will go and fight this Philistine"; "Thy servant +kept his father's sheep and--" "The Lord will" do this thing--not I. +David's humility throughout his boyhood and young manhood--indeed +throughout his whole life--is one of the fine and strong points of his +character. + +In the brook that runs alongside your lives, fellows, these five +smooth stones and others are waiting for each one of you. Put them in +your "scrip" _now_ and be ready for life's opportunities; for they are +coming, head on, to meet you, and _God wants to be on your side_. + + _Read the seventeenth chapter of 1 Samuel._ + + + + +XV + +DRIFTING + + +Say, fellows, there is a little animal in the North Woods, called the +weasel. In coldest winter its fur turns snow white and its pelt is +very valuable. The white fur of the weasel (sometimes called the +ermine) is used to make some of the most beautiful and expensive +stoles that elegant and wealthy ladies wear. Therefore, in very cold +winters, trapping the weasel is profitable as well as interesting. + +Now here comes the queer part of this story: The weasel is small, and +any scar made upon its snow-white coat is doubly conspicuous. If the +pelt is torn or injured it is rejected; so the trapper must take his +captive clean and scarless. The weasel will not enter a cage trap, and +the much used snap-jaw steel trap would tear the skin. But the weasel +likes to lick a smooth surface, especially if it is the slightest bit +greasy; so the trapper smears with grease the blade of a large knife +and lays it on top of the snow, secured by a chain attached to the +handle, and covers the chain with snow to hide it. + +The weasel comes along and immediately indulges its natural desire to +lick the smooth blade, and instantly the end of its tongue clings fast +to the cold steel. Try as it may, it cannot pull loose without tearing +its tongue out, which usually it will not do, but sits quietly by, +until released by the trapper, released only to die. Luckless weasel, +trapped by the tongue. + +Now, fellows, the weasel does no more wicked thing than to follow its +natural inclinations; but natural inclinations are not safe guides; +they more frequently lead to death. We folks are much like the weasel; +we are much of the time dead bent in the direction of what is worst +for us. Is not our God good to give us the plain warnings which we as +intelligent beings can see and understand--and, seeing and +understanding, "Stop, Look, and Listen!"--turn about and head toward +safety, success, and happiness! Surely, He _is good_. But what matters +how good God is and how plain His warnings if we go right on in the +wrong direction? + +If a weasel could understand a warning and should say, "Yes, I know, +but I am just going to lick this once," what would it matter how clear +the warning was? + +God's warnings are such as should turn us face about; right now, +before we are hard and fast in one of the devil's many crafty snares, +for he always lays his snares along the path of our _natural +inclinations_. God warns: "Abhor evil," learn to hate it, pray to hate +it. "Cleave to the good," learn to love it, pray to love it. + +Naturally, we seek our own praise, but face about! seek the praise for +another, in true brotherly spirit. Naturally, we are lazy and would +shirk our task; but brace up! put vim in the job; that honours God, +and incidentally, puts both success and joy in the work. When we get +in trouble, naturally we chafe and become impatient; God says, "Be +patient in tribulation." That's a "Right-about-face!" for you. We pray +once and quit--naturally. God says keep on praying. When folks nag at +us and pester us, naturally we blaze out at them. God says, don't +blaze, but bless. And that's "To the rear! Hey!" + +Naturally, our noses turn up and our heads are lifted to salute the +lofty ones; God says look around for those not so well off as we are, +and lavish our sociability on _them_. Naturally, we try to "get even" +with the fellow who does us a mean turn; God says turn that matter +over to Him; He will take care of it. And when that fellow needs help, +as surely he will sooner or later (maybe right now), make him the +special object of our kindness. + +Oh, yes, I know, fellows, it is much easier to do the way you feel +like doing. But when your boat is drifting down the current, which is +the natural way, it takes a Real Fellow to dig his oars in and turn +and row up-stream. And that's what you propose to be: a Real Fellow, +and the best part of it is you then become a Yoke-fellow with Jesus +Christ; and let me tell you, _He pulls a good oar_! + +Fellows, drifting means "over the falls." "There is a way which +seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" +(Prov. 16:25). Pulling up-stream with Christ means getting to the +sunshine of the eternal hills. "But the path of the righteous is as +the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" +(Prov. 4:18). + +Fellows, I had rather PULL with Christ than DRIFT with the devil, +wouldn't you? + + _Read the twelfth chapter of Romans._ + + + + +XVI + +RESURRECTION + + +Say, fellows, I'll never forget one exciting morning on the banks of +the Etowah River, a treacherous stream that threads its way through +the red hills of northwest Georgia. A bunch of us boys were spending +that morning in swimming. Not much swimming, either, for only one boy +in the crowd could swim, and all except him were under thirteen years +old. Bob was fifteen, and a good swimmer. One of the boys waded out +pretty deep, and the undercurrent swept him off his feet. There was a +cry, and he sank. + +Then it was that Bob did a fine thing, which has caused the rest of us +to look upon him as a real hero ever since. He ran along the bank, +down-stream a little way, and jumped in, rapidly made his way to a +point a few yards below where the boy had gone down, dived, and came +up with him. The rest of us waded out as far as we dared, to meet him, +and all together we drew the couple to shore. But, fellows, that boy +was dead--at least he seemed to be, and we were certain of it. + +We lifted his limp body out of the water and laid it on the ground. We +were three miles from town. Scared? We were terrified! All of us were +trembling from head to foot with fright. There were no Boy Scouts in +those days, and boys had not learned the scientific way to restore a +drowned person to life. We were alone and helpless in the presence of +sudden death, and knew not what to do. + +One boy suggested that we ought to "get the water out of him," and +that was followed by another suggestion, to put the body over the +lower limb of a near-by tree letting the head hang down, so the water +could run out of the mouth. This we proceeded to do, with a great deal +of difficulty, but finally we got it up there, hanging across the +limb, pretty much like a wet necktie. + +After the body had hung in the tree about five minutes, while we stood +about, panting, pale, and terror-stricken, we again took it down and +laid it out on the ground. All of a sudden, to our amazement there was +a movement about the mouth and a little gasp, as for breath. The rough +handling of the body getting it in and out of the tree had had some +effect. + +Instinctively we began to roll him over and move his arms about. We +knew nothing of the proper method, but the mouth opened and he +breathed again--then again--and as we let him rest a moment on his +back, he opened his eyes and looked at us, from one to the other. + +Fellows, can you imagine how we felt? Well, we couldn't speak; we just +jumped around like Indians and shouted and laughed and cried. It was +wonderful--the most thrilling experience I think I ever had, but I was +wobbly in the knees for a week afterward. + +The thing which tremendously impressed me was the coming back from +death to life--for so it seemed to us. But what do you suppose must +have been the feelings of those two women and the disciples, on that +astonishing morning when the two Marys went at early dawn with spices +to place about the Lord's body,--the body which they had seen die upon +the cross two days before; the body they had seen lifted down from the +cross and which they had helped to prepare for burial; the body they +had seen sealed up in the tomb as the sun went down on the darkest, +saddest day the world ever knew? + +What must have been their feelings, I say, fellows, when suddenly He +appeared before them _alive_ and _well_ and _speaking_? How they must +have leaped to do the thing their risen Lord commanded: "Go +quickly--tell." + +Do you know what it all means to you fellows who have accepted Him as +your Saviour and Friend and Guide? + +It means this: that you in your youth, full of life and with all +the thrill of growing strength and manhood, have no dead and +lifeless program to follow, no fickle and disappointing "rewards" +which perish with using; but yours is always a forward, up-going +experience--something doing every day that is worth while, something +that brings a thrill which does not die out and leave you weaker, but +makes you stronger every day, and prepares you for a yet bigger +task,--a _living_ task and a _living_ reward--Eternal Life! + + _Read John 20:1-21._ + + + + +XVII + +KNOWING HOW + + +Say, fellows, have you heard of the expert who was called in to start +the big engine? Every wheel in the plant had come to a sudden +standstill. Something had gone wrong in the engine room, and the +engineer was nonplused. To save his life he could not locate the +trouble. The superintendent was down there mad as a hornet. A thousand +operatives were idle on full pay, and it was like burning money on an +ash heap. Still that engineer fumbled around. The "super" telephoned +for the expert to come at once and see what was the matter. + +Directly, he walked quietly in, glanced at the steam gauge and turned +the throttle wheel a bit. Then, with a tiny hammer which he drew from +his pocket he lightly tapped some parts of the machine, here and +there. He paused at a certain pipe leading to the steam chest, called +for a wrench, removed a tap and a plate, peered in, then carefully +picked out a piece of cotton waste and replaced the plate and tap. +"Now open your throttle," he said to the engineer. The big engine +moved off like a thing of life, pulleys began to whirl and belts to +whirr, and a thousand hands resumed their work. + +In the office the expert handed in his memorandum charge. It was fifty +dollars and fifty cents. + +"It is all right," said the superintendent, "we're glad to pay it, +but would you mind telling me what the fifty cents is for?" + +The expert smiled, "Why, that is my charge for the one minute spent in +locating your trouble, the fifty dollars is for _knowing how_." + +Fellows, your life is a great big costly engine, built with infinite +skill, and you are the engineer. It is a wonderful thing running that +engine,--wonderful because it is the motive power to turn many wheels +and affect many lives. Rightly understood and properly handled it will +produce great values, and be a blessing to the world. Misunderstood +and carelessly handled, it will cause loss and suffering to you and +perhaps many others. + +As a boy, I used to go to the engine room of my father's mill and +watch the engineer. Continually, he moved about, watching its +movements, its big flywheel half below in the pit, half above, and the +broad belt that glided over it and disappeared through the brick wall +into the mill; now he would be refilling the oil cups, now noting the +steam gauge, or polishing the shining brass trimmings almost with a +caress. He was the first man on hand in the morning, and the last man +to leave at night. Oh, how well he must know his engine, how carefully +he must guard its movements, how always he must be on the job, if he +would be a capable, successful, happy engineer! + +And what is God's Word telling us about it to-day? Listen, "Happy is +the man that findeth wisdom [to know God, to know himself, to know his +engine], and the man that getteth understanding [how to run his +engine]. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of +silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Length of days is in her +right hand [a long and happy career of productive energy] and in her +left hand riches [the actual wealth which God promises to those who +obey His law and love His service, and the inexpressible satisfaction +which comes with the honour that honours God first of all]." + +Every fellow can have this wisdom for the asking. Every fellow can +know how to run his life engine, to avoid the breakdowns, to keep the +wheels humming the song of industry and success. Life is the most +interesting thing in the world, and God gives it abundantly. "If any +of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men +liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." + +Now, fellows, here is the whole matter in a nutshell: Your life +machine is the most wonderful, the most mysterious, and at the same +time the most "runnable" thing that the great God has created; but to +run it successfully, as God designed it to be run, you must get your +instructions from Him, the Maker of it. His Book of Rules, the Bible, +must be your daily guide, and through it He will speak to you in your +wonderful day as you live it in His companionship. + +Fellows, it is the Life! + + _Read Psalm 119:1-11._ + + + + +XVIII + +FRIENDSHIP + + +Say, fellows, if you were blindfolded and walking a plank above +Niagara Falls, humanly speaking your chances would be about as good as +David's were when King Saul in a frenzy of rage and jealousy was +seeking his life. David sized it up when he said: "There is but a step +between me and death." + +If ever a fellow needed a friend, David needed one at that time. + +And a friend he had--a friend with a backbone, a true friend--as brave +as any knight who sat at King Arthur's Table Round or followed in the +train of Richard Coeur de Lion. + +Young gentlemen, meet Prince Jonathan! + +He never got to be a king, but he had a kingly spirit--if that means +something high and noble. He never deserted a cause which had a claim +upon him. He was true to Saul, his father; he fell at Gilboa fighting +by his side. He was true to David, his friend, unto the point of +death. + +You may recall that in a former chapter I mentioned the opinion that +David was the kind of a fellow any red-blooded boy would like. On that +day of wonders, when in the twinkling of an eye the shepherd lad +became the champion of two armies, when the musical fingers of the +boy who played a harp and tended sheep did the execution which routed +the enemy and laid a giant's head at the feet of the king--that day +Jonathan's soul was knit to the soul of David in a lifelong +friendship. It was the kind of friendship which stands the test of +adversity. + +It was no wonder that David could have the admiring friendship even of +a prince on the day of his triumph and for days afterward when all +people were singing his praises and he moved upon the high places of +royal and popular favour. If the tide had not turned, Jonathan's +friendship would have been only an incident upon the page of history, +if it had been recorded at all. It would not have been a thing so +fine, so inspiring, as to have thirty millions of Sunday-school folks +discussing it to-day. + +But the tide turned, and there came a day when it was expensive and +hazardous to be a friend of David. Jonathan's position became both +delicate and perilous. Saul his father was a despot who would take his +own son's life if he sought to excuse or defend one whom the king +conceived to be his enemy. Jonathan's friendship stood the test. His +own life hung lightly in the balance, but Jonathan would rather have +given his life than fail his friend. He took it in his hand that +evening at the royal feast of the new moon; and he played with death +as the javelin of the infuriated Saul came hurtling across the table. + +Then it was that this thing called Friendship sprang forth in all its +wonderful strength and beauty and found its place in poetry and song. +Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for +his friends, said Jesus. Ah! there is the best friend of all--Jesus! +And what did He do? Well, He did this, which proves it: + +There came a day when you and I were fugitives from the king--not a +tyrant king, like Saul, but a just and holy God; not an innocent +fugitive, like David, but a sinner meriting the King's wrath and +curse; and One stood in the councils of Eternity--the Great White +Prince--and said, "Father, forgive him; let me take his place; let me +suffer his punishment; let me bear his shame; but him forgive and +restore to a place in court and to the joy of the Royal Service." + +And the King consented, and the Son came to earth and died upon the +cross to satisfy the law and make it possible for you and me, fugitive +sinners, to return to the King's Table--forgiven and restored! + +Let's go! + + _Read the twentieth chapter of 1 Samuel._ + + + + +XIX + +ALABASTER + + +Say, fellows, a bunch of college students were talking over the news +that had come to the campus that morning about Bob Allman. They were +not only surprised; they were mad, for "Bob Allman had done the +biggest fool thing ever committed by any decent fellow that the +college had sent out,"--that was the unanimous verdict. And of all the +bunch in last year's graduating class, Bob was the last one you would +have suspected of such a thing, he had so much at stake. He was the +clearest-headed, the best-balanced, the finest physical specimen, the +smartest chap in the lot. Bob was one of those rare fellows who could +stand high in his classes and be popular with the boys and the +professors alike. He was president of his class and captain of the +'varsity football team, and everybody was glad of it. + +The amazing news had arrived, in a letter from Bob, himself, to one of +the boys stating that he was that very week at Vancouver, taking ship +for China, where he had accepted a position as school-teacher on the +banks of the Yangtse; there he would preside over a room full of +Chinese boys about seven hours every day, while they monotonously +swayed backward and forward to the droning of their "study voices" in +the characteristic Chinese fashion. + +Bob's friend showed the letter. He had no more sympathy for Bob's +reasons than the bunch had; it was "simply a horrible mess--an +outrageous slaughter of talent." That was what they decided. Bob's +letter had said: + +"I don't suppose you will understand it now; I hope you may, later; +but out there are living (dying, I had better say) about four hundred +and twenty-five millions of people, practically without a knowledge of +Christ. I know Jesus Christ, not only as my Saviour, but as the very +finest and best friend a fellow ever had. I know what the knowledge of +Him can mean to _one human life_. I know that He wants those people to +meet Him and to know Him as I do. It has suddenly dawned upon me that +I can go over there and help introduce those strangers to my Lord, and +by doing so not only please Him but save them from eternal death. + +"I couldn't be happy at anything else, Gus. Maybe you will smile--if +it doesn't make you mad--but just wait, old fellow; give me time. +Unless I am the worst fooled mortal that ever lived, I have got hold +of the really big job--one that takes all that is in a man. Oh, it's +easy to make money, and it's easy to do some stunt that wins applause; +but after it all, when 'the tumult and the shouting dies,' what have +you got? + +"And what have I got? do you ask? Well, first, I've got about the best +inside feelings you ever could imagine. I've got a happy heart. I've +got the courage of my convictions. But, best of all, I've got my +Master's smile; and one day, if my faith does not fail, and I don't +believe it will, I'll get His 'well done'--and that will be worth it +all. + +"Gus, I wish you were going with me, old fellow. Smile, but think it +over. You will graduate next year. Say, I'm going to expect you. But +in the meantime, remember: Nothing you've got is too fine or too rare +to lay down in service to Jesus Christ!" + +Fellows, that was fifteen years ago. Want to take a look at Bob now? +It is a thrilling picture I see. A group of fine buildings--a great +Christian college in China, built for the most part by the Chinese +themselves. Bob is the president of it. He wouldn't swap positions +with the President of the United States, nor would he care to be a +captain of finance or a Supreme Court Judge. Bob has for fifteen years +been "living the life," and it's going finer each year. + +He has had the supreme joy of seeing Christian Chinese business men, +statesmen, and great leaders go out from his college to take their +places of influence and leadership in the affairs of an Empire--in +some respects, particularly in population and undeveloped resources, +the greatest upon earth. Bob himself has been called time and again +into the highest councils of the nation. He is engaged in introducing +men--and through them a great multitude--to his Master, the Lord Jesus +Christ. + +Yes, fellows, boys have alabaster boxes, too--and there's only one +place to break them--at the feet of Jesus. + + _Read Mark 14:3-9._ + + + + +XX + +TELLING IT + + +Say, fellows, do you know it is impossible for anybody to tell with +words the whole story of the cross. The only way you can tell the +story in its real power is to _live it_. + +I have heard there was a high-caste Chinese boy, the son of a wealthy +mandarin, governor of one of the Chinese provinces. This father was +very ambitious for his boy, hoping that one day he would succeed him +as chief executive. Therefore to secure for him the most modern and +progressive education, he sent the boy a hundred miles away to a +school on the Great Canal, taught by American missionaries. "To get +the Western learning," he told the boy, but not the foreign devils' +religion. + +The teacher in Yuan Ki's room was a six-footer, a college graduate, +and an athlete. Yuan Ki was much impressed. He secretly admired him, +but was ungraciously curt to him. This was Yuan Ki's way of making the +teacher "keep his distance." But the teacher seemed not to notice it. +He was always kind to Yuan Ki, even as he was to the others. + +One morning at chapel teacher talked about his God. Yuan Ki sneered at +what he told. Actually, teacher had said that his God had come down to +earth and had given up His life on a cross, as a sin-offering for all +people, even His own enemies. Yuan Ki wrote his father about this +"ridiculous story." + +One day Yuan Ki was taken sick with a high fever and placed in the +school hospital. That night as he turned his feverish head from side +to side on the pillow, he felt a cool hand laid on his brow. It was +the teacher. Yuan Ki turned his face away, affecting not to see him. +The second night, he kept the boy's feverish brow cooled with iced +cloths until the fever subsided. Yuan Ki was distressed at the +situation, but all the more determined to ignore the teacher's +kindness. + +At noon recess one day the boys were playing on the sloping grounds +between the school building and the river. It was strictly against the +rules for the boys to go past a certain low wall, toward the water. +But Yuan Ki and Wang To, seeing the teacher sitting near one of the +windows and knowing how it would disturb him, ran over the wall and +jumped on to the deck of a house-boat moored near by. Yuan Ki saw the +teacher look up in alarm and start as if to jump from the window, +which was ten feet from the ground. Yuan Ki ran to the outer end of +the house-boat, intending to jump to the deck of another house-boat +alongside, but in doing so, slipped and fell into the swift current. +The boy could not swim, and after a brief struggle he sank and knew no +more. + +It was two days later that Yuan Ki came to consciousness. He was +puzzled quite a little until he figured out that he was in the +hospital bed again, and it was in the early dawn of the morning. There +seemed to be nobody else in the room. Yuan Ki could see through the +open door, across the hallway, into the large reception room opposite. +There was a long, strange-shaped, box-like thing, with some candles +burning near by. Curiosity getting the better of him, Yuan Ki got up +and crept across the hall. Coming close to the casket, he looked +through the glass cover--and there lay the teacher. + +Just then a hand was laid on Yuan Ki's shoulder, and the nurse hustled +him back to bed, scolding him for his imprudence. "But," said Yuan Ki, +"the teacher--how did he die?" + +"Lie still," said the nurse, "and I will tell you. When you fell into +the water, teacher jumped from that high window to the ground. It +seemed to sprain his ankle, or something, for he limped badly as he +made his way to the water. He reached you just as you went down the +last time, and bore you up. A man ran out on the deck with a boat-hook +and reached for you both. He caught your sleeve and hauled you in, but +the current carried teacher out of reach, and then we saw him sink. He +was an expert swimmer, but the sprain must have caused him to lose +consciousness." + +Yuan Ki's next letter to his father read in part like this: "My +father, my heart is broken, for I shall not see your face again. I +know that what I shall tell you means that your hopes for me will be +crushed and that you will disinherit me; but, oh, my father, I have +learned now what is the love of Christ. Teacher had tried to tell us +about his Christ, who said: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that +a man lay down his life for his friends.' + +"And now, my father, there is but one thing for me to do, and that +is, myself, to take the place which this noble servant of his Master +has left vacant--his Master--now my Master, too, for He has accepted +me and I have accepted Him. I have resolved to train to go to my +countrymen and tell them of this wonderful God, the like of whom there +is none other." + +Jesus gave _all_ of Himself for us. We cannot give less than _all_ of +ourselves for Him. + + _Read Mark 15:16-47._ + + + + +XXI + +READY! + + +Say, fellows, once in my life--and only once--I had a chance to shoot +a deer. It was in the Tennessee mountains. A party of us boys +travelled over a rough mountain road all of two days before reaching +the hunting grounds. About daylight of the third day each one of us +was given a "stand," that is, stationed at a point where the game +would likely pass when started by the hounds. The seasoned old guide +cautioned us to keep still and watch. "One thing sartin," said he, +"deer is in thar, an' when they comes out they comes this a-way." + +I had never been deer hunting before. I have never been since. It was +my one opportunity, and as the party left me, to distribute themselves +at other points of vantage along the "run," I took up my stand under +considerable excitement. In an hour I heard the dogs far in the +distance. They were evidently running. That meant the game was +running, too,--how many and in what direction I could only guess. + +Every nerve and muscle was tense with expectation. The music of the +hounds grew fainter. "Evidently circling again," I mused. I was +getting to be quite a huntsman, and chuckled at how David Crocketty my +observations were. + +Another hour I waited. A squirrel came out on a limb, and with its +antics and barking helped me pass the time. A while I watched it, now +and then dropping my eyes to a level for the expected deer. Suddenly, +as I dropped my eyes, the most thrilling sight confronted them. They +nearly popped out--my eyes. There, within fifty feet of me, stood a +magnificent buck. + +I shall never forget the picture. His beautiful, keen limbs slightly +quivering, his sleek sides glistening in the slanting rays of the sun +as they throbbed in and out with his rapid panting. His head held +high, the antlers looked like a picture. + +All this had happened in less than five seconds. I only had to veer my +gun two inches. My hand was on the trigger, and with a perfect "bead" +on his left shoulder--right where the old guide had said the night +before was the spot to aim for. + +Snap! left barrel. + +Snap! right barrel. + +Off like the wind, Mr. Buck! + +Fellows, I have never been sicker than I was at that moment, but once. +My sickest was in the next moment, when I unbreached my gun and found +_there was no shell in either barrel_! + +Foolish? + +You can call it any name you please and I won't defend it. Think of me +at the camp-fire that night, fellows. + +Foolish? Yes, I suppose that is the right word. It is a much stronger +word, though, than we realize. Jesus used it in this parable of the +ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom. But He used it to +describe a real tragedy, the greatest tragedy of life; the tragedy of +being unprepared at His coming. + +And when is He coming, fellows? Nobody knows. He has not even told the +angels that secret. We don't have to know it. We only have to be +ready. + +And how to be ready? Simple as A B C, fellows. Just be busy, doing +God's will--or making an honest effort to do it, and asking Him to +help. Anybody can be ready to meet Him when He comes, if he wants to +and will try. Just be doing your work and playing your play, as He +would have you do it. + +But, fellows, it is a big risk to "put off" getting ready. Do it now +while you are young, with all life before you, by saying: "Lord Jesus, +here is my life. Use it in just whatever way you choose. Plan it for +me and help me carry out the plan." That is the way to bag the Big +Game. Some of life's greatest opportunities come but once, and then by +surprise. The happiest and most successful life is the God-planned +life, and a God-planned life never misses the Big Opportunity, because +it is ready--always ready. Ready for life, however long or short it +may be; ready for death whenever that must be; ready for the Coming of +the Lord Himself, which may be any moment, in the twinkling of an eye. + +Are you ready, fellows? + + _Read Matthew 25:1-13._ + + + + +XXII + +REMEMBERING + + +Say, fellows, all through the United States some years ago there +sounded a slogan. It was a slogan of hate,--a slogan of revenge. It +was the rallying cry of the Navy, it was shouted by the Army. +Newspapers carried it daily on the front page, alongside their titles; +business houses had it printed on their stationery; it was engraved +upon souvenirs; it hung as a motto upon the walls at many public +gatherings, and it became a household word throughout the nation: +"Remember the Maine!" + +Remember--remember--never forget. And the purpose in remembering was +Retaliation. One night while the United States battleship _Maine_ lay +peacefully at anchor in the harbour of Havana, an explosion tore a +great hole in her hull and she quickly sank, carrying down many +officers and men to sudden death. + +There was hardly any doubt that Spanish officers had from the shore +treacherously exploded a mine underneath the battleship, and later +investigations seemed to confirm this theory. Immediately the United +States, an outraged nation, arose to drive the Spanish army from Cuba +and her navy from American waters, and the spirit of revenge was kept +alive by the slogan, "Remember the Maine!" + +Now, fellows, those are just the cold facts to show how powerfully +can be used the word, Remember--how powerfully to kill and to destroy; +how powerfully to nourish the harsh and cruel side of our natures. Not +that it was wrong for America to lift the Spanish yoke from helpless +Cuba, we are not dealing with that question. That with which we have +to do to-day is the energy and force developed by _remembering_. Like +dynamite, it can be force for good or for evil. Remembering the taunts +and cruelties of our enemies usually carries us into a cruel and +destructive program. + +I am so glad this lesson presents to us the good side of that really +great word Remember, for to-day it is Remember Jesus. When you link +that Name with a word it transforms it; link that Name with a life and +it transforms it. Jesus Himself gave us the slogan. He was so intent +upon our keeping it in mind that He instituted a feast by which we +might commemorate it. + +Even the food of that supper had a significance: Bread, to represent +His own body nailed upon the cross for us, and wine to represent His +blood which flowed for us. I think, fellows, if you should give your +life to save another, you would not like that one to forget all about +it, would you? + +But Jesus had more than that in mind. He knew that "remembering" would +mean much to you who are trying to live a straight-out Christian life. +Celebrating at stated times by this Remembrance Supper would help you +to remember Him also _between times_. It is in these between times we +so much need the power which comes by Remembering Jesus. + +Am I downhearted because I have been mistreated? Remember Jesus. He +was most mistreated of all men. Am I feeling that I'd like to "get +even" with somebody and redress a wrong? Remember Jesus. He did not +strike back, but laid down His life for His enemies. Am I feeling that +I cannot hold out in this Christian program? Remember Jesus. He is +right by my side and will help me hold out. Do people seem to +misunderstand me? Remember Jesus. He understands, and that is +sufficient. Does it look as if I am about to make a failure? Remember +Jesus, through whom we are more than conquerors. + +I tell you, fellows, it is the biggest and finest Remember of all, +because it makes us strong, it makes us happy, it enables us to +overcome, it makes us invincible! + +Remember Jesus. + + _Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-34._ + + + + +XXIII + +GETTING EVEN + + +Say, fellows! I saw a big touring car sideswipe a Ford runabout and +knock it several feet to one side on the country road. Of course each +of the drivers thought the other was to blame, and a warm argument +followed. + +The big car was unhurt, and proceeded on its way, but the flivver had +its running board and fender badly battered. While the young fellow of +the runabout examined to see what further damage his car might have +sustained, the prosperous-looking gentleman was speeding up the +highway, chuckling over his own car's escape from injury. + +I asked the man of the Ford if his engine had suffered. No, he thought +it was all right; he would crank up and see. Good! She started off +with a clutter, and he asked me if I wanted to ride. I had not far to +go, but gladly accepted, for I was rather struck with this young +fellow's grip on himself. It took self-control to avoid making the air +blue with abuse. The way that big fellow had hurried on, leaving the +runabout in trouble, was certainly not on the square, to say the +least. + +A turn in the road brought a fresh surprise. There was the touring +car, a hundred yards ahead, standing in the middle of the road, hood +up, and the big man peering into the engine. There was room to pass, +and I wondered what the man at the wheel in the runabout would do. +Would the little car rattle past with its damaged fender? It would be +only human nature to sing out some sort of a taunt: "Thought you were +in a hurry!" or "Don't block the road!"--and yet this young fellow did +not seem to be that kind. His self-control during the incident back +there in the road made me expect something different, and I was not +disappointed. The runabout did pass, but stopped ten yards ahead, and +my companion got out. + +"Engine trouble? Need any help?" + +The big fellow's face was a puzzle, as he looked up with a worried +grin and mopped his brow with a grease-smeared hand. Yes, there was +engine trouble, and it was serious. + +To make a long story short, when last I saw them as they turned the +curve of the road ahead, the big car's front axle was connected by a +chain to the rear of the runabout as it chugged away in low gear +dragging the big one to the nearest garage. + +Say, fellows! it takes a dead game sport to do a trick like that. Any +cheap skate can whiz past and give his enemy in trouble the +hard-boiled eye, but it takes a fine soul to be generous when the +natural impulse calls for spite work. + +In the small hours of that fine morning, as Saul slept and as his +guards were heavy with sleep about him, David put one over on his +pursuer--an act of kindness which overwhelmed him with shame. David +had not only to fight a natural impulse to get even, but he had with +him an adviser who used the most persuasive arguments to induce him +to take Saul's life. Indeed, Abishai proposed to do the deed himself, +as though that would leave David clear of guilt in the matter. But no, +David was a man of principle, and he knew three very vital things: + +1. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," said the Lord. + +2. A magnanimous spirit wins, and no sad regrets cloud the victory. + +3. He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city. + + _Read twenty-sixth chapter of 1 Samuel and Romans 12:20-21._ + + + + +XXIV + +GREATNESS + + +Say, fellows, if I should make up an unusually good story about you, +some noble thing you did, or some kind and generous act, to whom +should I tell it, to be sure it would be believed? Yes, I see you know +of whom I am thinking--your mother. I might tell your brother and +sister, and they would say: "Phew! are you sure it was Dick?" I might +tell your employer, and his eyes would roam around over the objects on +his desk; or your teacher, and he would look at the sky and say: +"Think it will rain?" I might tell your father, and he would be +grateful--but surprised! But let me tell your mother! There I would +find one who is ready to believe anything good I would say about you. + +I tell you, fellows, a mother is a wonderful gift to a boy, for her +prayers alone. Long before you learned to say, "Now I lay me down to +sleep," she was praying that you would be a great and good man some +day. Those prayers of mothers have kept many a boy from going wrong. +One night in a great city where I had gone to find work I had fallen +in with some young fellows who "knew the ropes," and being far from +home and lonesome I was glad to accept their companionship. They +invited me to join them in an "evening lark" to which no loyal +Christian would lend himself, and though I was a nominal Christian I +was tempted sorely. I regarded myself as "my own man," having just +turned twenty-one. + +But just as I wavered between right and wrong, my mother's face +flashed before me. It was only for an instant, but it was enough. I +heard her voice, heard it in prayer. That night a thousand miles away +she was praying for me, and saved me from what might have been a fatal +step. I firmly believe, fellows, but for my mother's prayers that +night and many nights, before and since, I should not now be enjoying +the privilege of talking about the great things of life and the +Kingdom to you. + +Treasure that dear mother, if you have one, fellows; she is God's +peculiar gift. + +Well, James and John had such a mother, and she did the most natural +and motherly kind of a thing. She wanted _her boys_ to go away up +high; they must even stand in the highest places, on the right and +left hand of the King in His glory. Like all mothers, she was +ambitious for her boys. + +Then Jesus in His wonderful way explained that the road to true +greatness was not that which the world was following, in which those +in power and authority were overbearing masters to their inferiors; +but it is a path of service to mankind, a path already blazed by +Himself. Last night in the local evening paper I saw these headlines: +CHATTANOOGA DOCTOR ATTAINS EMINENCE. The article stated that a very +remarkable invention for the removal of foreign particles from the +lungs or bronchial tubes, such as might be accidentally swallowed, had +been successfully demonstrated before a national medical society, and +had been written up in the _American Medical Journal_; it was said +that the discovery had brought great honour to the doctor in the world +of medicine. + +That was the recognition, but what had preceded? Days and nights at +bedsides of suffering; days and nights in the laboratory; days and +nights of study to relieve pain; hours of weariness unknown to the +world, but borne on by the thought of doing a service to humanity. And +do you suppose the final publicity is what rewards this doctor? +Hardly. A reporter on his local city paper sought an interview, after +the far-away medical journal had published the first news, but the +doctor, in his service overalls in the midst of treating his patients, +declined the interview, saying it would involve a technical +description which the general public would hardly be interested in. +Then it was "Good-morning," and the doctor returned to his work. + +True greatness does not care to make one dash to fame, then loaf in +its glory. + +The thing our great Commander wants us to be earnest about is doing +our best, wherever the place of service. He will look after the +reward. He is even more ambitious for us than our mothers are. + + _Read Matthew 20:20-28._ + + + + +XXV + +"PAW, I WANTA BE SOMEBODY!" + + +Say, fellows, away back in the mountains of western North Carolina, +far up on the mountainside, at the head of a cove, there lived a +fifteen-year-old boy. He had sisters and brothers and parents, but +they dwelt in a little tumble-down shack and were wretchedly poor. +Jake was the oldest of the children, and he had to work hard in the +little patch of corn on the steep mountainside, which barely yielded a +crop. + +Down the path a mile or so there was a little log schoolhouse where a +lady teacher gave some of the mountain children lessons in "readin', +ritin', and 'rithmetic." Jake had passed and repassed that schoolhouse +many times and wished that he might "go thar and larn," but Jake was +too important a hand on "the farm" to "waste enny time at sich"--so +thought his parents, neither of whom could read or write. "An' Jake +was pow'ful handy 'bout fixin' things, like tools en sich." + +One day, when "the crop" was pretty well "laid by," Jake came to the +shack and, throwing his hoe into the corner, said: "Paw, I wanta be +Somebody!" Then Jake went on to say he had been thinking that now the +corn was in shape to go ahead and make what it would, he "might put +in some time ev'y day at the schoolhouse a-larnin' how to read and +write." + +"But y'ain't got nothin' to buy books," was suggested. + +"I'll see 'bout that 'ar," said Jake. + +Next morning when the teacher arrived, Jake was waiting at the +schoolhouse door. + +"Teacher," said he, "I ain't got no money to buy books, but I kin git +up the wood ev'y day for the stove, 'n I kin sweep out the schoolhouse +'n keep it clean--cain't ye loan me a book 'n let me come 'n larn?" + +Jake's terms were accepted. No boy was ever prouder of a university +scholarship than Jake was of that chance to "larn" in the little +mountain schoolhouse. Jake went after "larnin'" as a boy goes for pie +at the picnic dinner. + +A few months later, the school was visited by the superintendent of +one of the large North Carolina mountain mission schools. When the +teacher told him about Jake, he offered him an opportunity to enter +the mission school and succeeded in persuading his parents to let him +go. Jake was put to work taking care of the farm machinery in the +agricultural department of the mission, but with ample time to pursue +his studies in the schoolroom. + +It was noticed that he had special aptitude for fixing the farm +implements and adjusting the parts--even making some of the missing +parts at the old blacksmith forge. The superintendent was so impressed +with this that as soon as Jake's education had made pretty fair +progress, he secured him a position in the dynamo room of a large +manufacturing plant in a near-by town. Jake had accepted Jesus Christ +as his Saviour and Master while at the mission school, owned his +Bible, read it faithfully every day, and was a consistent young +Christian. + +It was a triumph for Jake, when he got a discarded dynamo out of its +corner and saved the purchase of a new machine. His employers soon saw +that he was entitled to even a better chance than they could give him, +and after they had some correspondence with a great electrical +manufacturing firm in New England, Jake one day bade farewell to his +"Tarheel" friends and took a north-bound train. + +At the great electrical plant, his career was continuously upward. + +It takes five figures to name his salary. Every Sunday morning you +will see Jake and his family get into their big car and motor into the +city, where Jake teaches a large and enthusiastic class of young men. + +The mountain boy has realized his wish: he is Somebody! + +No fellow can do a finer thing than make his life count as a force in +Christianizing the nation--to make it stand out a shining light, +pointing the world to Christ. And one effective way to do that is to +apply himself, with a Christ-loving heart, to the opportunity that +comes to his hands to build himself up in a Christian way and in a +business way. For good business and Christian integrity are twin screw +propellers. + +The fellow that gets the good job, the fellow that suddenly finds +himself in a position of power and privileged service to his world +about him is the fellow who is found faithful to the smaller work or +the smaller opportunity that lies next to his hand. + +Oh, fellows, it is the only life! + + _Read Matthew 25:14-30._ + + + + +XXVI + +"LET DOWN YOUR FEET!" + + +Say, fellows, something happened two summers ago at a well-known +resort in the mountains, which even at this late day it quickens my +pulse to recall. I was one of the very few eyewitnesses of the +"tragedy," and it nearly put me to bed with nervous prostration. It +was about twilight one evening when I passed near the lake on my way +to our cottage for supper. + +The gay throng of swimmers had apparently all dispersed to the hotels +and cottages for the evening meal and preparation for the concert in +the auditorium. That lake was a very popular place in the afternoon; +there were accommodations for all grades of swimmers--from the expert +divers who used the platform, spring-board, and tall diving ladder on +the deep side, to the smallest children, who paddled and waded in the +shallow water under the watchful care of their nurses on the other +side. The lake was not over a hundred yards wide at the widest. + +I was just noting how deserted and quiet was the place which only a +few moments before had been fairly alive with a happy throng of sport +lovers, little and big, when I saw coming toward the platform from the +bath house a tall, thin man in his bathing suit. He looked so pale and +weak and thin that I wondered if he could possibly be thinking of +going into that cold water at that time of evening and _alone_! + +I had not long to be in doubt about it, for straight out on the +platform he went and then _on the spring-board_! He lifted his arms +above his head and pointed his hands together as a man going to dive. +The man looked so weak and thin that I felt positive he would not be +able to swim in that water, so chilled by the mountain springs that +fed it. I wondered if he knew how cold it was and how weak he was. + +Should I run the risk of "butting in," and warn him? Suppose I did not +and he should begin to sink, could I jump in that fifteen-foot water +with my clothes on and save him? These thoughts flashed rapidly +through my mind, but in the twinkling of an eye he was off the +spring-board, head downward into the water. + +I held my breath and waited for him to rise. It seemed he had gone to +the bottom and stuck there; the water became actually smooth again, +and almost still, where he had disappeared. I thought he would never +come up. My heart jumped into my throat. + +Then he came up--very near where he had gone down--and faintly struck +out swimming. I thought of course he would at once make for the piers +of the platform; surely a fellow swimming as weakly as that, all +alone, and in water cold and deep, would not risk himself far from +shore. But, to my amazement, he was apparently starting for the other +side! + +It was then I discovered I was not the only witness. On the other side +of the lake, down close to the water's edge, and watching with evident +anxiety, was a lady. It was easy to see by her movements that she had +a strong personal interest in the swimmer's actions, and that she was +very anxiously watching him. She had evidently come down to keep him +company, or as a precaution, while he took his solitary evening swim. + +These things, which were taken in at a glance, coupled with the fact +that the swimmer was plainly growing weaker and making very poor +progress, confirmed all my apprehensions, and I was just thinking I +must quickly take measures for his relief when I saw coming out of the +bath house on a dead run, two husky young fellows in bathing suits, +making for the spring-board. + +At the same time the lady shouted: "Father! Father! can you make it?" + +The swimmer gurgled something which sounded like, "No." + +He had gotten about half-way across and was merely struggling to keep +his head above water. The two huskies went off the spring-board so +close one behind the other that it looked foolhardy, and struck out +rapidly for the drowning man, but he had gone down his second time +already. + +It was a race between life and death. I said: "They will never reach +him in time." The lady screamed. Then a new voice broke upon the still +evening air. A boy over on the walkway by the dam shouted at the top +of his lungs: "_Mister! Let down your feet!_" The struggling man heard +it; he did let down his feet, rose up about waist deep in the water +_and walked out_! + +Fellows, as I walked on up the hill toward supper, trying to work my +heart back down where it belonged, I did some tall thinking. Had _I_ +ever "drowned" in shallow water? Sure, I had. The great big things God +has planned for you and me to do seem impossible because we do not +take into account that they are to be done through God's power and not +our own. + +We summon the nerve to tackle the task, but, forgetting Him, like +Peter trying to walk on the water, we sink. We foolishly try to do the +thing in our own strength, when there at our hand is the great power +of Almighty God just waiting to flow through us and accomplish it +gloriously. + +Oh, fellows, if you would just let down your feet on the mighty power +of God, you would walk out of all your difficulty. Here is a great +overpowering temptation getting the best of you--and you, drowning in +shallow water. + +Let down your feet! Here is an inspiring challenge out of God's Word, +to put forth your hand and heart and mind and help win the world for +Him. You are tempted to say: "Who am I?" Let down your feet, and +you'll see who you are. You are a child of God, through whom He is +willing to do mighty works. + +And you will rise upon your feet, you poor, weak fellow, and you will +hold aloft the Banner of the Cross, and you will achieve for God in a +way that will set all the bells of heaven ringing. + + _Read Matthew 28:16-20._ + + + + +XXVII + +AN "UNASSISTED TRIPLE PLAY" + + +Say, fellows, when that "Indian," Wambganss, put three men out with +one unassisted play in the world's series and retired the Brooklyn +Dodgers with bases full, twenty thousand frantic Cleveland fans rose +as one man and sent up a yell that sounded like the roar of Niagara. +It comes but once in a generation for a lone baseball player to make +an "unassisted triple play" in a world's series, and doubtless that +night the Cleveland second baseman was the most envied baseball player +in the world. For one man to do, alone, what thousands of onlookers +could not do, was enough to turn all fandom topsy-turvy in a delirium +of amazement. + +There is something in you and me, fellows, that leaps to its feet and +screeches with delight when we see any one rise to the demands of a +crisis and do the fine thing. Now, I want you to turn to a place in +the Bible where is described a finer thing than could happen in any +world's series. It has always seemed to me to be about the most +wonderful event that ever happened. It is John's account of one of the +most wonderful miracles that Jesus performed. + +More than five thousand hungry people lingered on the hillsides near +the lake shore, and there was nothing for them to eat. Jesus was +testing His men that day to see how far they had recognized His +divine power. He turned to Philip and said: "Where shall we get food +for them?" Philip did not know it was a test question; neither did he +realize that Jesus could turn every blade of grass to a loaf of bread +if He chose to do so. Therefore, Philip replied: "I do not know, Lord; +it looks as if they will have to go home hungry." + +Now Andrew was casting about to see what he might discover to help out +the situation, and his eye fell upon a boy standing near by with a +rather familiar shaped bundle in the folds of his tunic. Andrew +sniffed, and saw the tails of two dried fish sticking through. Andrew +had a long nose for fish. He knew what it was: the boy had brought a +lunch with him. + +"How many barley cakes have you, son?" inquired Andrew. "Five," +answered the boy. "Wait a minute," said Andrew. Something had flashed +into his mind. It was a big moment for Andrew; he was on the verge of +doing a fine thing, himself, and he stepped quickly to where Jesus +stood. + +"Master!" he said, his eyes snapping with the very thought of what +_might happen_--"Master, there's a lad here with five barley cakes and +two small fishes--" and (oh, the tragedy of it!) then he must have +caught Philip's hard-boiled eye. He must have thought, "Now, Philip is +saying I'm a fool for suggesting such a thing--and I guess I am"; for +he quickly added "--_but what are they among so many?_" + +Jesus calmly turned His eyes on Andrew, as though He said: +"Almost!--Andrew--almost did your faith win a victory; make the men +sit down on the grass, and bring the lad's lunch to me." + +Now, fellows, I can imagine Andrew going back to that boy and saying, +"Son, the Master has need of this food you have brought; shall I take +it to Him?" And this boy's first thought, naturally, was: "Then, what +will I do? I'm a long way from home; I'm hungry, and I was just fixing +to eat it myself--but--" + +The boy had been listening to Jesus as He talked to the crowd. He had +seen those wonderful eyes melting with compassion. His own eyes had +feasted upon that majestic countenance, and his ears had tingled, and +his boyish heart thrilled with the marvellous words which fell from +the Master's lips. "Surely," he had thought, "this _must_ be the +Messiah, for no other could speak like Him, nor work these marvellous +cures." So quickly he brushed aside his self-interest, and held out +the little bundle of fishes and bread. + +Now, fellows, watch--What?--a triple play at a world series and twenty +thousand fans leaping and yelling like mad? Bless you, no. Something +happened right then which will be remembered a millennium after +baseball has been forgotten. Jesus took the boy's lunch and fed five +thousand hungry men, besides women and children, until they could eat +no more. + +I have many times tried to picture in my imagination that glad and +astonished boy. His eyes must have nearly popped out when he saw what +was going on, the Master giving out the bread and fishes--and the +bread and fishes _never giving out_! + +And the big news to-day, fellows, is that you and I can make a play +like that. No matter what it is you've got in your hand, let Jesus use +it. He can do more with it than we can. No matter whether it is much +or little, give it to Him. In fact, that's the way to save it and make +the most of it. He said so (Luke 9:24) Himself; give it to Him. It +matters not so much _what_ it is in your hand; the thing that matters +is _what you do with it_. Give it to Him. You may not hear the +bleachers roar over your gift, but, listen, fellows, when a life is +surrendered to Christ the battlements of heaven ring with a shout that +encircles God's throne, and the score is for Eternity! + +Fellows, let's play the REAL GAME. + + _Read John 6:5-14._ + + + + +XXVIII + +FORGIVING + + +Say, fellows, I want you to take a look at Simon Peter to-day. He is +as interesting as a fast game of volley ball. And he did get some hot +ones handed to him. Impulsive fellow that he was, he was always +getting his foot into it. Peter was a plunger; he wanted to _do +things_, and do them right now. Loyal soul--he would fight for his +friend at the drop of a hat; but he was subject to fits of depression, +and at such times his heart would fail him, or he would lose his grip +on himself and do something to regret sorely afterward. + +Now, fellows, Jesus loved Peter with a mighty love, and He spent much +time helping him to gain self-control and learn to be a steady, +thoroughgoing, dependable Christian. Many times Jesus had to call him +down sharply. Once He even called Peter "Satan" (see Mark 8:33). It +really was Satan to whom Jesus spoke--Satan operating in Peter, as he +operates in you and me sometimes when we are weak enough to permit it; +but it must have been an awful jolt to Peter to get that from his +Master. + +Peter gradually improved. He was making an honest effort to be the man +he ought to be; but there one thing which gave him more trouble than +anything else. He got to the point where he could close his jaws +tight and keep from calling down the fellow who made him mad, but he +couldn't keep from surging inside. He would surge when he went to bed, +and he would be still surging when he got up--all inside. After a +while he got to where he could forgive, but when the offense was +repeated it was "all off," and Peter would find himself surging again. +Now the second surging was just as uncomfortable and made him feel as +mean as the first, so Peter began to wonder just what would be the +limit, according to Jesus' idea, to which a man must forgive and then +surge and feel good over it. You see, Peter was trying to train by the +rules of Jesus, so it was quite the proper thing for him to ask Jesus +about it when in doubt. A good sport is always ready to listen to the +Coach. + +Jesus was teaching the Golden Rule, the law of kindness and of +good-will. He had just been showing how to make peace with one who has +done you an injury, when Peter spoke up and asked the question which +brought forth one of Jesus' most remarkable parables. Peter said: +"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? +until seven times?" + +Seven times! Think of that. It was going some, wasn't it? Doubtless +Peter thought so. Perhaps he said to himself: "Well, for once I have +proposed something which will show the Lord that I have learned to be +a longsuffering Peter. Just imagine it: Forgave him Sunday; he +repeated the offense Monday, and I forgave him again; also the same on +Tuesday. He deliberately did that dirty trick again on Wednesday, and +I still stood my ground on the forgiving program. Thursday and Friday +the rascal repeated the offense, and I forgave, and did it again on +Saturday; that was seven times, and lo! when Sunday came the +ungrateful wretch was at it again, and I'm done. Seven times! It was a +wonderful test of my control, and I shall present it to the Lord--" + +And what did Jesus say? Why, Peter must have staggered under that +answer, for it revealed to him far more than the "four hundred and +ninety times" program. In the light of that parable in Matthew +18:21-35, it revealed to Peter that God had already forgiven so much +that was sinful in him that he might just as well settle down to a +program of forgiving his brother every day for the balance of his +life, if he did not want to forfeit the forgiveness of God. No more +surging for Peter. + +And that is what the lesson means for you and for me to-day. A +missionary once said, "We cannot outgive God." It is quite as true +that we cannot out-forgive God. And, moreover, we dare not harbour +unforgiveness in our hearts against any fellow-being, for when we do +it we are dangerously close to the edge of a fearful precipice, where +one slip would put us--with the Tormentors. + +Let's all shake hands--hard! + + _Read Matthew 18:21-35._ + + + + +XXIX + +PARADOX + + +Say, fellows, do you know what a paradox is? It is something which +seems to contradict itself. I saw a man hold in his hand something +worth one hundred dollars. I would have been willing to give him one +hundred dollars for it. He destroyed it right before my eyes; yet his +action caused nobody any loss. Now there is a paradox, and it seems +quite puzzling, doesn't it? It looks quite impossible, you may say. +But the explanation is very simple. What the man held in his hand was +his own check on the bank. He had made a slight scratch on it which +did not affect its value, only its neatness, and he preferred to tear +it to pieces and rewrite it. + +Here now in the eleventh chapter of Matthew, our Lord in His +impressive way is teaching in a paradox, and you may mark it well, for +it indicates a specially important proposition. He says: "Come unto +me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. +Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in +heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." It seems queer that in +coming in answer to that invitation you should have a yoke to put on. + +But your first wrong impression is that the Lord is sorry for folks +who work. Not at all; work is a blessed privilege. Pity the poor +idler, not the worker. Be sorry for him who is by any cause debarred +from working, not for the red-blooded fellow who is feeling the thrill +of accomplishing something. Our Lord is sorry for those who are "heavy +laden" while they work--laden with worry, with anxiety, with fears and +forebodings--yes, even with a guilty conscience. + +Then the yoke. Who would think of a yoke in connection with rest? I +suppose you fellows have seen oxen wearing yokes. They do not look +very restful, do they? Yet Jesus clearly says His yoke is "easy"! +Well, let's see. + +For a moment, think of life as a great game. In many respects it is +just that. It takes skill and wit and patience and determination to +win the ordinary game; also the willingness to take a lot of +punishment at times. There are three things about the game of life +which are like all other games: (1) We must either win or lose; (2) +there is uncertainty; and (3) we all want to win. But there are also +three things true of the life game which are not true about other +games. + +The first of these three dissimilarities is that in the life game you +have got to play whether you will or no. You can beg off from a game +of tennis, or baseball, or dominoes; but the life game you have got to +play, willing or unwilling, sick or well, fit or not fit. There's no +choice; you've got to play--_you are already playing._ + +Second, you must play against an adversary who is not only more +skillful, more speedy, more enduring, but is _invisible_, and whom, +humanly speaking, it is absolutely impossible to beat. Such a game! +Such an adversary! + +But the third dissimilarity is the most remarkable of all, and it is +the shot which carries the big news to-day,--there is a rule by which +you can certainly win. Can you say that about any other game? In other +games, your rival can apply the rule as well as you, but in the game +of life the rule is only available for you, and it is an absolutely +sure winner. Turn to your Bibles and look at it, in the twenty-fourth +verse of the ninth chapter of Luke: "Whosoever will save his life +shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same +shall save it." + +Losing your life for Jesus--which simply means _investing_ it for Him. +Whatever you do, do that thing in His name and in a way worthy of Him. +Your _life_, you know, is simply made up of the events of the +twenty-four hours of each day. Invest each event with Jesus. That +means your play as well as work. It means clean play and good hard +playing to win, but in the way Christ would approve, honest, fair, +chivalrous--and it is true sport, I tell you. That is a part of what +it means, wearing Jesus' yoke, simply doing the thing as Jesus would +do it. + + _Read Matthew 11:28-30._ + + + + +XXX + +FRAUD + + +Say, fellows, the greatest circus man who ever lived said the American +people like to be humbugged, and proceeding on that theory, P.T. +Barnum got together more animals and performers and freaks under +canvas than had ever been seen before. He made a tremendous fortune. +There is something in human nature which makes us an easy mark for any +pretentious thing that comes down the pike with banners flying. The +bigger the claim and the larger the figures, the more readily we fall +for it, but simple things must be proved. + +When we are told there are 290,680,493,115 stars we accept it without +question, but if there is a sign saying "FRESH PAINT" we touch the +paint with our fingers to see if it is really so. + +Fellows, there is a big sign posted all over the country, carrying in +large letters the two words, "It satisfies." It is the expensive +advertising propaganda of cigarette manufacturers, and the +"satisfaction" they are offering you is that brief and fleeting +sensation of being doped, so that "stern realities are changed to +pleasant seemings." It matters not to them that your health and morals +and money and life pay the cost, just so they sell their product. +They tell you cigarettes "satisfy." It is a preposterous fake. They +do not satisfy--they produce further craving--and they know that that +craving grows, until the habit is formed and their "satisfied" victim +becomes a hopeless slave--known as a cigarette fiend. There is only +one drawback for the cigarette manufacturer, his consumer is too short +lived; the cigarette devitalizes, pauperizes, and destroys. Like the +shock troops of the German army, they must be continually +recruited--recruited in numbers which almost stagger the imagination. + +Did you know, fellows, that to keep up the consumption of cigarettes +at the present rate of manufacture there must be _two thousand_ new +smokers _daily_ to contract the habit? Nearly all these new smokers +must be boys, for men are not fooled into this practice so easily. + +In a village I recently saw a large bill-board sign at the top of +which in bold letters were the words, WANTED: ONE MILLION RECRUITS! +Upon reading farther, I found it was the advertisement of a certain +brand of cigarettes, and the manufacturers boldly stated that the "one +million recruits" were wanted to join the large and growing army of +"delighted smokers" of their "richly blended" cigarette. + +You don't have to fall for it. You do not _have_ to be one of the two +thousand daily new recruits to the cigarette manufacturer's army of +shock troops. + +But the sly wolf comes in disguise, and in this case the disguise is +"satisfaction" offered. Once the wolf gets its victim it throws off +the disguise and stops talking about "satisfaction," but simply hands +the "coffin tacks" across the counter, and takes your money, health, +morals, success, and real satisfaction, in exchange, while you--well, +you proceed to drive the tacks, one by one. + +Says the cigarette: "I am not much of a mathematician, perhaps, but I +can ADD nervous trouble; I can SUBTRACT from physical energy; I can +MULTIPLY aches and pains; I can DIVIDE the mental powers; I can take +INTEREST from work and I can DISCOUNT chances for success." + +Dr. Heald, writing in _Life and Health_, says cigarettes are in many +cases the direct cause of cancer, blindness, deafness, heart disease +and dyspepsia. He further says they dwarf the body, benumb the brain +and weaken character. + +That cigarettes "hinder the development of the body" is testified to +by the following physical directors of universities: Drs. Seaver and +Anderson, of Yale; Dr. Hitchcock, of Ambrose; Dr. Meylin, of +Columbia--as a result of repeated and careful measurements both of +smokers and non-smokers. + +Judge Ben Lindsey says: "No pure-minded, honest, manly, brave boy will +smoke a cigarette." + +"Home-Run" Baker says: "I do not smoke--never did. If any youngster +wants advice from one who doesn't mean to preach, there it is: Leave +cigarettes alone!" + +Dr. Coffin, of the Whittier Reform School, says: "Of the 1,700 boys +who have been inmates of this institution, 1,670 were cigarette +smokers!" + +_There_ is "satisfaction" for you; no, not for you, but only +satisfaction for the cigarette manufacturer and dealer, such +satisfaction as comes from ill-gotten gains, which after all cannot be +permanent. + +Yes, "it satisfies"--the cigarette,--it satisfies--satisfies the +devil, and _he_ laughs, and _his_ is the only real long laugh that the +cigarette affords. + +The cigarette-tree is known by its fruit. Cut it out. + + _Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27._ + + + + +XXXI + +THE BIG TASK + + +Say, fellows, some years ago France gave a man a large task. The man's +name was De Lesseps, and the task was to cut a ditch seventy-two feet +wide across Panama, to unite the two great oceans. Part of the cutting +was to be through hills two hundred and fifty feet high. It was a big +order, and although De Lesseps had the resources of a great republic +back of him, he failed to deliver. Aside from the gigantic feat of +digging and removing stone and earth, there were malaria and yellow +fever in the swamps, which killed thousands of labourers, and there +were theft and bribery in the financial management, which swallowed up +the money. These things were like giants invincible, blocking the way +against success. + +Twenty-two years later the United States tackled that same job. +General Goethals was sent to Panama, and he put it through. Himself a +skillful engineer, confident of the success of the enterprise, and +with all the resources of Uncle Sam back of him, he set to work. +Surgeon-General Gorgas stamped out yellow fever and malaria by +draining the swamps and eliminating the mosquito, making the canal +zone practically a health resort. + +Thus, with unlimited financial power, the latest discoveries of +science and invention, skill, and an ample supply of labour, coupled +with faith in the plan and an unconquerable spirit, the man cut +through, two oceans came together, and the world's commerce passed +back and forth in an endless stream. + +It was a big order, nobly executed. + +Yet, fellows, there was an infinitely bigger order given to those +twelve faithful, believing men, when our Lord calmly told them to go +out and do five things, namely: "Preach the Gospel, heal the sick, +cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils"--infinitely +bigger, in that it required infinitely more power. Jesus furnished the +power, the disciples furnished the faith and effort, and the five +things were done. + +There was the malaria of sin in the way, and mountains of unbelief, +but they _cut through_, and the ocean of God's love, on one side, and +the ocean of man's need, on the other, were united! + +Had you thought of it, fellows, that every Christian is challenged and +commissioned to do a big, hard task for Jesus? The task is big and +hard because it requires Almighty Power, but Jesus supplies the power. +Our part is simply to throw ourselves into the job. We hesitate +because we forget that God gives no task but that He sees us through, +and the bigger and harder the job the more abundant and free is the +supply of power. Our part is to _proceed_. He will see that we +succeed. We take a step at a time; we go by the blueprints while He +holds the future in His hand. + + "A man went down to Panama, + Where many men had died, + To slip the sliding mountain + And lift the eternal tide. + A man went down to Panama, + And the mountain stood aside." + +That's the poetry of it, fellows, but the practical prose is like +this: + + A shovel. + A pick. + And dig. + And dig. + And dig. + + _Read Matthew 17:14-21._ + + + + +XXXII + +POWER + + +Say, fellows, Marconi has succeeded in lighting an incandescent bulb +eight miles away without the use of a wire. It is the transmission of +power by wireless. Experiments have also been successful in +electrically guiding, starting, and stopping, without visible +connection, a torpedo or even a battleship from the land or from a +ship. The human voice has been projected through the ether from +Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, by wireless telephone. + +These things are sufficiently marvellous to make us gasp--and yet how +far they fall short of the things which Jesus did, as recorded in the +eighth and ninth chapters of Matthew. The centurion's servant was sick +some distance away. It would have been miracle enough if Jesus had +gone to him, touched him, and healed him; but Jesus met a new brand of +faith in the centurion, and He more than matched it with a new sample +of His divine power. + +He simply spoke, and the man in the distance was instantly made well. +In Hebrews 1:3 you will find this phrase: "By the word of his power." +It was that word which created the universe; by that word He had +created the centurion's servant; and now by that same wonder of +wonders He reaches through space and re-creates; He lifts the sick +man off his bed, twelve miles away (it might just as well have been +thousands of miles), puts him on his feet, sound and well, and serving +his master! + +Now, fellows, you and I can link up to that power, and we only have to +apply for a connection; we need not make a journey to get it. When we +want light or fuel gas or a telephone in our home, we simply apply for +it; the company connects the house with the supply mains, and the +power comes within reach of our hands. But here is divine power +available, and we do not get it because we do not ask for it. + +The centurion had unusual faith when he believed Jesus could command +the forces of nature and be obeyed, just as he [the centurion] could +command his household servants and be obeyed, and Jesus met that faith +in a marvellously unusual way. You and I are continually making +mistakes and failures and "messing things up." We want to be a success +in life. We want everything we undertake, in work or play, to "pan +out" well. But unseen forces are at work to hinder, and circumstances +intervene which we cannot control. Here's the magic secret: link up +with Jesus' power. + +I asked a modest tennis player how he had managed to win out in the +finals against an opponent who was much his superior in skill and +training. He replied: "I'm afraid I took an 'unfair' advantage of +him--I prayed to win"; and he smiled. I heard of a famous quarterback +on one of the big 'varsity teams who linked his game with prayer and +got unusual power in the play. And why not? + +But there is more to the secret. To make that "linking up" effective, +it must be accompanied by complete surrender of the life to Jesus' +authority. Power is unsafe unless divinely controlled--worse than +that, it is fatal. + +Let's put the whole matter in Jesus' hands, and we'll have a great +time! + + _Read John 4:46-54._ + + + + +XXXIII + +CHRISTMAS + + +Say, fellows, when it was announced in the Edison home seventy-three +years ago that a boy was born, and his name was Tom, it was a great +day for the world. It was a great day for you and for me--though we +were not yet born. Think a minute how it would be without the electric +light, now illuminating every city and town in the world--at the touch +of a button in millions of homes and halls and offices and factories +turning darkness into day. It is wonderful that the birth of one boy +named Tom should mean so much to the world. Yet who can say that had +Edison not been born none would have discovered the incandescent lamp? + +It was another wonderful day when Mr. and Mrs. Watt announced the +birth of their son James--a wonderful day for the world and for you +and me. Think of how many ways steam power, through manufacture and +transportation, adds to our comfort and pleasure. Yet who can say that +no man would have discovered and harnessed this giant to serve mankind +if James Watt had not seen the light of day? + +Still another wonderful day it was when the Bells announced the birth +of a boy whom they named Alexander Graham--a wonderful day for the +world and for you and me. How would we get on without the telephone? +Yet who can say that no one would have invented the telephone if +Alexander Graham Bell had not been born? + +But, oh, fellows, the supreme birthday of all time was that which was +announced by the angels to the shepherds watching their flocks by +night in the Judean fields; it was that birthday signalled by a +glorious star to the Wise-men who came to Bethlehem with gifts of gold +and frankincense and myrrh. The birth of Jesus means more to the world +and to you and me than all the other birthdays combined. Those other +birthdays brought material blessings. The coming of Jesus into the +world not only made possible the highest enjoyment of all material +blessing, but--far more important--made possible the most wonderful +_spiritual_ blessing imaginable, and that is the only benefit which +can endure through life and eternity. + +Neither can it be said that if Jesus had not been born some other +might have brought us salvation and life and joy, for "there is none +other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." + +Edison was used of God to give us light to read by; Jesus gives us +light to live by and to die by. + +Watt was used of God to give us steam power with which to manufacture +and to haul; Jesus gives us power to overcome evil which would destroy +us, body and soul, and that power is infinitely more necessary. + +Dr. Bell was used of God to supply us with the means of speaking and +hearing over long distances; Jesus gives us connection with God and +shortens to whispering nearness and forgiveness the long distance of +separation between an outraged Heavenly Father and a disobedient +child. + + _Read Luke 2:1-20._ + + + + +XXXIV + +AIMING HIGH + + +Say, fellows, on the train sometimes a fellow-passenger becomes +confidential and tells a story right out of his heart. One of this +kind came to me the other day. + +There were two brothers--clever boys, keen, alert, ambitious. They +lived in a Christian home. God spoke very clearly to both of them, +calling them to lives of consecrated service for Him. + +A---- decided to train for the ministry. B---- said the ministry was +poorly paid. He felt that A---- was needlessly committing himself to a +life of sacrifice. He shuddered at the prospect of a poor preacher's +hand to mouth existence. As for him, he would sell _his_ talents in +the world market, where brains and training counted for something and +brought a large price. Not for him the narrow life in a small corner, +when a young man of ambition and push could live and have a good time +in the big current. A fortune, a fame, and a life on the high road of +ease and pleasure were the things really worth striving for, and for +these he proposed to drive. + +Twelve or fifteen years have passed since these decisions were formed. +A---- finished his seminary training, was licensed as a minister, and +accepted a little country charge. It was hard sledding, the salary was +small, and the work was more or less discouraging, but it was a clean +course and a clear road, and he buckled down, throwing into his work +all his resources. + +B---- went to a large city and got a trial job as reporter on a big +daily. He had a mind for writing--a good vocabulary, and a flow of +language which gave promise of carrying him to the goal of his +ambition. He wrote verses in good style, and had had a number of poems +in his college magazine. B----'s program, you remember, put special +emphasis upon "having the good things of this life while you may." +Putting the emphasis there is likely to warp one's judgment as to what +are really "the good things," and so it proved in B----'s case, for he +spent his salary on luxuries, and for the temporary gratification of +his appetite and his ideas of "a good time." + +He had to call on his father periodically for money to pay for dire +necessities. It was not surprising that B----'s jobs changed +frequently and he went from city to city--the general direction of his +fortunes, habits, and health being downward. Just now he has a job on +a little weekly paper in a village. His bare pittance in these parlous +days of H.C.L. hardly sustains his solitary bachelor existence. He is +a broken-hearted and discouraged man--not old in years, but with the +snap and vigour of young manhood gone. He is in debt, and there is +small chance of his getting out. He is practically a cipher in his +community. Life is one daily reminder of failure, and the relentless +bearing down of bitter disappointment. + +But look at A----. He is the happy and enthusiastic pastor of a large +and growing congregation, which congregation is simply "daffy" about +him. They pay him a good salary, even as salaries go in these advanced +times, and he is absolutely free from financial care. He has a +commodious and comfortable home, presided over by his wife and blessed +with little children. His congregation recently made him an +anniversary present of a three thousand dollar car, replacing one they +had previously given him, of a cheaper make. + +My passenger companion (who, by the way, is the father of these two +boys) said when he was at A----'s home recently, two dressed turkeys +were sent in by two families of his congregation on the same day. His +is one of the progressive churches of the state. It supports a number +of outpost missions, "manned" by the members of his congregation. He +is held in high esteem, not only in the community but in the state. +And with all this, he seems to be only upon the threshold of his +life-work, with a career of greatest usefulness laid out invitingly +before him. Endowed, like his brother, with unusual natural ability, +he is finding widest scope for the free play of all his powers; and +these powers being fully consecrated, are illuminated and energized by +the very-power of God. + +Now, fellows, which of these two was wise? Which would you rather be? + +Truly God means what He says when He tells you and me to-day: "Seek ye +first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things +shall be added unto you"! + + _Read Matthew 6:25-34._ + + + + +XXXV + +WAITING + + +Say, fellows, are you "game" to consider a tough little word in the +language to-day? All right, brace up, for it is one of the hardest +things a fellow has to tackle, and the main reason _why_ it is hard is +that you can't tackle it, but have to wait. + +There! I have said it--the word is W-A-I-T. + +The boys who went to France say they didn't so much mind "going over +the top" as they did the sometimes long waiting and suspense which +preceded. + +In every fellow's boyhood days there are necessary periods of waiting; +not idle waiting, mind you. The "prodigal son" couldn't stand it, +you remember. "Dad, give me what is coming to me, and let me get +away from the humdrum life of the farm. I want to see life!" and he +picked his fruit green and ate it. That poor fellow got an awful +stomach-ache--and it was the worse ache of _emptiness_ and not of +fullness! + +But maybe you are wondering what all this has to do with these three +parables of the kingdom spoken by our Lord. Just this: they are "wait" +parables. The servants of the man who had sowed wheat in his field, +said: "Master, look! tares are coming up with the wheat--what shall we +do?" Their master said, "Wait." Then when the harvest ripened and the +thing could be safely handled without injuring the wheat, the tares +were separated and destroyed. A fellow struggling along, trying to do +right, finding it up-hill work and the denial of many so-called +pleasures, sees another fellow running a loose and reckless program, +doing all the forbidden things, yet without injury apparently. + +It looks as though one can disobey all the rules, have a fine time, +and suffer no setbacks. What's the use stinting and pinching oneself +into a straight and narrow track when those out on the broad way are +having all the life--and getting away with it? Well, bo, you just +_wait_. It looked awful gloomy for the Allies all through those trench +waiting months of 1915 to 1918; but in 1918 Chateau-Thierry popped +through. The strength of an ally had been developing, and there +followed in rapid succession the victories of Belleau Wood, the +Argonne, and St. Mihiel--and Right came into its own. + +Remember, the waiting time of a boy's life is that time of silent +growing of the moral fiber, the character, and at the proper moment he +will rise in the full strength of a well-rounded manhood and take his +rightful place in the world of things, while tares which were ever so +flourishing go to the dump heap and the trash burning. + +The mustard seed was very small, lying there in the ground. It had to +_wait_. Even when it came up and looked about, it seemed there was +hardly a chance for so fragile a stem, but it _waited_, and while it +waited, it _grew_. After a while it became a full-grown bush, and the +birds of the air came and lodged in it. There is a legend about trees +longing for birds to come to their branches, some trees growing +lonesome or jealous because other trees seemed to be more inviting to +the birds. That is much like human nature. We naturally like to be +sought out. "Wait" is the watchword; keep sweet and hustle, and soon +enough our branches will reach high and spread. + +The woman put the yeast in the dough, then set it by to _wait_. What a +mistake it would have been to try to cook it at once; the bread would +have been almost as heavy as lead, and totally unfit to eat. But while +she waited, the leaven _worked_--and so while you patiently wait, +doing God's will as best you know how, _God works_, and what a mighty +Worker is He! Then, as you grow, He gives you a part to do alongside +with Him; He and you work together. + +Let's not be in too big a hurry for the Eats, fellows; let's work and +wait--and then how good the Reward will taste. + +That is the style of the kingdom of heaven. + + _Read Matthew 13:24-43._ + + + + +XXXVI + +ACTION + + +Say, fellows, there come times when a fellow must act, and act +promptly, or lose his chance to clinch a good thing. In the preceding +talk our key-word was "Wait." To-day it is a shorter, quicker, sharper +word, and one that a boy likes better. A-c-t--that's it. _There_ is +movement,--something doing. The word is all pep, touch and go! We like +it, don't we? + +When he was twelve years old, Thomas Edison was a newsbutch on a road +running out of Detroit. As the train left Detroit one morning, Edison, +as usual, went back into the first-class coach with the morning +papers. Near the front sat two young fellows, acting very gay. They +hailed everybody who passed in the aisle, and they hallooed out the +window at folks and objects as the train rolled along. They were on a +lark, and wanted everybody to know it. + +"Morning papers!" called out Edison. + +"How much are they worth?" sang out one of the jolly fellows. + +"Five cents," said Edison. + +"Oh, how much for the whole bunch?" retorted the young man. + +"Why," said the newsbutch looking a little surprised, "there are +forty--they're worth two dollars." + +"We'll take 'em," said the noisy passenger, and whipping out two +crisp one-dollar bills, took the papers from Edison and handed them to +his companion, who threw the entire bunch out of the train window. +Evidently these young men had plenty of money to spend, and were +inclined to make a sensation and attract attention. + +Edison quickly took in the situation. "Phew," said he to himself, +"here is a chance for real business," and he hurried forward to the +"baggage" where his supply trunk was stored. He quickly returned with +an armful of magazines, some rather out of date. + +"How much are they worth?" promptly inquired the young spendthrifts. + +"Twenty-five cents apiece, or $5.50 for the pile." + +"Take 'em," said the spokesman, and paying the money he and his +companion dumped the magazines out of the window. + +Back to the "baggage" went Edison, and returned with his basket of +fruit, candy, chewing-gum, and other things. Again the transaction, +and goods, basket, and all went through the window. + +Then Edison rushed once more to the "baggage." He piled everything he +could lay any claim to into his supply box, some things old, some new, +some unsalable, dragged the box through the train, crossing its open +platforms between coaches with some difficulty, and at last drew up +nearly breathless before these reckless buyers. Quickly he pulled off +his coat, hat, collar, tie, and shoes, and piled them on top of the +box and announced: "Everything I've got is for sale!" The price was +paid, and the young men directed their servant, who was near by, to +drag the box to the back of the coach and throw it out, which order +was obeyed. + +The newsbutch with a chuckle went forward to tell his friend the +baggage man about his "streak of luck," while he fondly fingered a fat +little roll of bills down deep in his trousers. His entire stock in +trade had been transmuted into the coin of the realm, his profits were +secure, his losses were nil. He had found a good thing, he had +recognized an opportunity, and he had let no grass grow under his feet +while he laid hold upon it and reaped the golden harvest. + +Fellows, there is something like that, only far better, offering to +you this moment. It is the _treasure_--not of perishable value like +gold, but of eternal value. Jesus Christ is offering to take you into +business with Him and let you deal with values so much finer and +higher than anything else that the surprise and joy of them will last +through all eternity. + + _Read Matthew 13:44-52._ + + + + +XXXVII + +A CORONATION + + +Say, fellows: This is David's big day. Let's enjoy it with him. Let's +get in the crowd gathering at Hebron and see a coronation. + +And what a crowd! About three hundred and forty-four thousand mighty +men of war--all the tribes of Israel were represented there that +day--and they came over the hills of Judah from north and east and +south to put a crown on David which would make him king of all Israel. + +For many years David had waited for this day. At the death of Saul, +two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, had proclaimed him king, but ten of +the tribes had crowned Saul's son, Ishbosheth, as his father's +successor. So David waited seven and a half years longer, and then the +whole kingdom came under his rule. + +Many times during those long years when a fugitive from Saul, hiding +in caves or seeking the protection of heathen kings, it must have +seemed as if God had forgotten him, and once David did almost break +down, but he rallied, took a fresh hold, and "carried on." + +Now, fellows, it must be a fine sight to see a man receive a royal +crown, but it is a finer sight when there are fine qualities in a man +deserving honour and reward. No head deserves a crown unless there +are crowning virtues in the life. What were some of the qualities in +David which merited a crowning on that great day? + +One was his faith. Faith in God; faith in his fellow-man; faith in +himself. It takes faith even to start anywhere, and it takes more +faith to arrive. David's faith was of the coronation variety. + +Another was his patience. David waited. He did not try to force +matters. Whenever God was ready--that was David's time. In one of his +great psalms, he wrote: "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he heard +my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry +clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." David's +patience was crowned. + +Another was David's continual kindness to a foe. He was even kind to +Saul's memory and rewarded the men who reverently took Saul's body +from the wall of Bethshan and gave it decent burial. David's chivalry +was crowned. + +But, fellows, the fine thing to know is that the same princely +qualities can exist to-day in each one of us; not for crowns on our +heads, but for a great satisfaction in our hearts. Faith, patience, +and a knightly spirit are just as possible possessions now as they +were in David's day. They are spoken of in slightly different terms by +Paul in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians,--Faith, hope, and +love. You can have them all. They are priceless, but you can have them +if you ask for them. + +Be a prince of the Royal House! + + _Read 2 Samuel 2:1-7._ + + + + +XXXVIII + +DO IT RIGHT + + +Say, fellows, down-town the other day a man tried to save a boy who +was caught near some wires, and got killed himself for his trouble. +Hard luck, wasn't it? Yet he had nobody to blame for it but himself. +He took hold of a wire which carried the electric current for the +street cars. He broke a law of nature and got punished. There was a +way he could have gotten the wire away from the boy. A Boy Scout did +it later _with a pole_. + +Just the difference between touching with the hand or touching with a +stick--very little, perhaps, but the law of electricity made the +difference important, so that the one meant death--the other, life! + +Now here comes along King David trying twice to move the ark of the +Lord up to Jerusalem, where it ought to be, the first attempt proving +fatal because he was foolish enough to try to handle it as the +Philistines did, instead of doing it strictly by the rules God had +made--rules which David should have known very well, because they were +in his Bible (Num. 4:4-6, 15; also 1 Chron. 15:11-15). The rules +required that the ark should be carried on poles resting on the +shoulders of certain men set apart for that service, but David +permitted them to put it on an ox cart, attended by Ahio and Uzzah, +two well-meaning fellows, no doubt, but not according to the rules. +One of the oxen stumbled, the ark jostled, and Uzzah put his hand on +it to steady it. Presto! Uzzah a dead man on the side of the road! + +They called David from where he was marching at the front of the +procession, and when he got back there and saw what had happened, it +gave him an awful shock, for he knew he was just as guilty as +Uzzah--and perhaps more so. He ordered the men to take the ark into +Obed-edom's house beside the road and be careful to pick it up by the +poles. Then he went on back to Jerusalem without it. He got out the +Book of Numbers and went over the rules about the ark very carefully. +For three months he studied the matter. Then he went after the ark +again--this time in God's way. He called for the priests and the men +appointed to carry the ark; he organized a band and a great choir of +singers, and went to Obed-edom's house. There they picked up the ark +by the poles and started. Still David was scared, and when they had +moved forward only ten yards ("six paces") he made them stop, while a +sacrifice of oxen and rams was made to the Lord. + +David was overjoyed when he saw everything going well, and he began to +dance and to sing. All the way to Jerusalem he danced and shouted for +joy. + +David thought a lot of the ark, because it meant the presence of God, +and that meant in this case the blessing of God. As he grew older and +wiser he had greater reverence for God's house and all the holy things +which were tokens of God's presence. In one of the psalms he wrote: + + The Lord is in His holy temple; + Let all the earth keep silence before Him. + +The least a boy can do for God's honour is to keep quiet in church. + +The best a boy can do for himself is to put God at the very center of +his every interest--the fear of God, love for God, and reverence for +all His holy law. + +Take hold as God says, and everything will go fine! + + _Read 2 Samuel 6:1-11._ + + + + +XXXIX + +KEEPING FAITH + + +Say, fellows, it takes a real sport to live up to a promise when +conditions shift on him. If there is a streak of yellow in his system +he will find some way to kick out every time. Life is a big game, and +it takes a real man to play it on the square--if only square and no +more. + +But, fellows, what can you say about that one man in a thousand who +plays the game of "Remember and Pay" as finely as David did? + +Young gentlemen, please meet Mephibosheth, this man of the twisted +feet and outlandish name. Kings did not usually choose such to live in +their courts and sit at the royal table. Only the fine-looking men and +beautiful women were invited to become members of the king's +household. + +But, worse still, this Mephibosheth, being a grandson of Saul, was at +any time a possible pretender to the throne. It was the custom of +kings to get rid of such. Not so David. When he finds out about the +poor cripple over there across the mountains east of the Jordan, he +sends for him and invites him to come and live at the palace in +Jerusalem. + +Now you will find David's promise to Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:14-17; +and his promise to Saul in 1 Samuel 24:20-22. David had only agreed +that when he became king he would not kill Saul's descendants. He +could have fulfilled his promise by simply allowing Mephibosheth to +live as he was doing, visiting around, kind of sneaky like, without +any pocket change, among the few friends who would take him in. + +What do you suppose Mephibosheth thought when the messengers showed up +one morning at Machir's house and called for him to appear before the +king? Scared to death, don't you think? No doubt he thought it was all +over for him now, except the "slow driving and music on the hill." +Why, when he came before the king he bowed clear down to the marble +floor, doing obeisance, and called himself a dead dog. Then, what +happened? He had to pinch himself to see whether he was dreaming. He +never got over the surprise of it as long as he lived. King David +helped him up on his crutches and told him to cheer up, for from that +time forward he should sit at his table, and be as one of the king's +own sons. + +More than that: with all the thoughtfulness and fine courtesy of a +Christian gentleman, David turned over to this cripple his grandfather +Saul's estate, together with Saul's servant, old Ziba, with his +fifteen sons and twenty slaves, to till the land. That was to provide +Mephibosheth with an income. + +Now, what do you know about that, fellows? It was playing the game of +kindness to win, wasn't it? Win what? Why, to win the satisfaction +which can only come to one who keeps his promise--and then some, for +good measure! + +Yes, it takes even more than a good sport to do that. It takes one who +is willing to be Christlike. + + _Read 2 Samuel, Chapter 9._ + + + + +XL + +THE GAME THAT CAME NEAR BLOWING UP IN THE SEVENTH INNING + + +Say, fellows, have you heard the sorrowful news about David? Too bad! +Just as we were beginning to think David, with his fine manly ways, +his love for God's honour, for God's ark, his bravery, his fairness +and kindness--just as we were thinking he would make a clean record to +the end of the game, now here comes an awful flunk! + +It's kind of like when the score is 2 to 0, in favor of the home team, +and we are feeling good--then all of a sudden in the seventh inning +the boys go all to pieces, and let the other side put four men across +the plate. + +Strange how David fumbled and played badly when he had had such a long +winning streak, but so it must ever be when you get the idea you're +"it" and can't slip. David let down, and away down. Fellows, would you +believe it if it were not in the Bible--he broke all the commandments +from the sixth to the tenth, inclusive. God says whatsoever a man +sows, that shall he also reap. David sowed the wind and reaped the +whirlwind. Absalom, his son, committed all the sins his father did, +and added some, for he broke the fifth commandment also, and broke his +father's heart. + +David was very fond of Absalom, and would have done anything for him, +but that boy didn't appreciate it. He was a good-looking chap; the +girls admired him, and a lot of foolish fellows hung around him, +flattered him, and made him vain. + +Absalom had the big-head. If there is a sorry sight upon earth it is a +fellow that is stuck on himself. Absalom was conceited and proud. He +wanted even to be king in place of his father, and was unwilling to +wait for what would have come in due time. Many a fellow spills the +beans by being unwilling to wait. He ruins his best chance by trying +to pick the fruit before it is ripe. If there is ever a time when +patience is golden it is in the time of youth. A boy wants to stop +studying and training, and take a short-cut to fame and success. It is +usually a bad mistake. + +Absalom's blunder was fatal. He tried to land on his father's throne +by treachery; he landed in a tree, caught by his head. He thought to +win a crown; he got three hot darts between the ribs from Joab. He +planned to have a pile of wealth quickly gained, but by the end of the +week his handsome form was buried deep beneath a pile of rocks. Ever +afterward when an Israelite passed that monument of dishonour, he +picked up a stone and cast it upon the heap to show his contempt for +the memory of a disloyal son. + +Oh, fellows, the tragic day of a boy's life is when he decides to +throw over a good father. No matter what prize is offered. It may be +to get more liberty; it may be to escape restraint or rebuke, but it +is a bad trade at best. Ordinarily a boy's best man friend is his +father. If this does not seem to be the case, usually it is because +the son won't allow it. Many a father longs, like David, for his boy's +confidence and companionship. Many a boy could have in his father the +finest chum imaginable, if he would give his father a chance to show +him what a real chum is. + +Fellows, let's give Dad some of that fine Scout loyalty and watch him +warm up to it. He may have some chum qualities you never thought of. + + _Read 2 Samuel 11:1-27, and + 2 Samuel 15:7-18._ + + + + +XLI + +THE BITTEN APPLE + + +Say, fellows, I was visiting a boy friend one afternoon and while we +played his mother called him. Wondering if there was anything wrong, I +waited and listened while he answered the summons. I could hear her +speaking to him as she said: "Bob, here are two apples--one for you +and one for Wade." + +Then I waited, and as Bob did not return at once I stepped to the +corner of the house to see what kept him. That fellow was sitting on +the step digging his teeth into one of the apples. I thought: "Well, +that's polite, starting on his own before he gives the other to his +guest!" It rather disgusted me. Directly Bob came round the corner, +kind of sheepish like, and what do you suppose he did? Well, fellows, +he offered me _the bitten apple_! + +That was enough for me. Take it? I guess not. I turned on my heel +without a word and went straight home. I don't think anything ever +inspired more contempt in me as a boy than that piece of petty +thievery. + +Of course, fellows, that was not a Christian way to treat an erring +playmate, and I fear I had very little charity in my heart; I am just +telling you frankly how that act of Bob's impressed me. And it was +only in the beginning of Bob's eventful career. Twenty-five years +later, Bob's name was in the daily papers all over the country. He +had gotten away with a big sum of money that belonged to others who +had trusted him, and now he is a poor hunted fugitive from his native +land, if indeed he is alive. + +The boy who begins taking just a bite of somebody else's apple is +likely going to pull off _something big_ some day! + +Suppose Bob's mother had handed him seven apples and asked him to save +one of them for her, and he had made away with the whole lot, don't +you think that would have been pretty mean and low down? + +Listen, fellows, something mighty close to that--only a lot worse--is +happening with boys to-day who look upon themselves as the souls of +honour. I am just wondering if they fully realize it. It is not in +their relationship to mother, but to God their heavenly Father and +creator. He has placed in your hands and in mine, each week, seven +full twenty-four hour days. He says, "Six for you and one for Me." + +He trusts you to keep that One Day, the Sabbath, for Him. How do we +discharge that trust? Are we worthy of it? God does not lock us up in +a dark room on Sunday and handcuff us and chain our feet to the floor. +No, He trusts us; He prefers to trust us. He wants us to honour His +laws about the Sabbath, of our own free will. That is the kind of +service God likes--willing service. + +And, fellows, you cannot abuse that trust and escape the penalty. God +has commanded in His Word, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. +Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day +is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work." +No man, no boy, can continually break the Sabbath day and get away +with it. Sooner or later he will come to sorrow because of it. + +On the other hand, God distinctly promises blessings upon those who +honour His Sabbath (Isa. 58:13, 14). + +Fellows, God is the best "payer" that ever promised. He always pays +more than He promises. His day concerns our happiness, our health, our +prosperity, our usefulness, our success. All these vital issues are +involved. + +And I am going to tell you just one more fine secret. It is a nugget +of pure gold. The best way to avoid violating God's Sabbath is to get +busy honouring it with service--service to Him. Go regularly to +Sunday-school and to church service--and go _on time_. You will find +something to do there. + +Spend your Sabbath afternoon in the study of God's Word, read some +good book that will feed your soul; spend some time in some work of +mercy. Take a bit of something good to eat to the poor fellow in jail +and tell him you do it because you love Jesus Christ and are trying to +serve Him, and want him to love Christ and serve Him, too. You will +find it a short day, but, oh, such a fine and happy one, and you will +go to bed refreshed. Next morning you will wake up whistling and you +will turn off work at the store or at school like a forty-horse +tractor. + + _Read Exodus 20:8-11, and + Isaiah 58:10-14._ + + + + +XLII + +MY KINGDOM + + +Say, fellows, I heard a boy quoting Shakespeare the other day. He was +coming out of a movie with two other boys, just as I was passing. They +had probably been in there an hour or more, for they seemed glad to +get out in the fresh air. But the boy's exclamation was what caught my +attention; it was this: + +"My kingdom for a cigarette!" + +To be sure, Shakespeare makes Richard III say, "My kingdom for a +horse!"--the boy changed a word; and it was just a careless remark +expressing his craving for a smoke, but it raised a question in my +mind: Did that young fellow realize he said a very important and true +thing? When Richard III cried out, "My kingdom for a horse!" he was +dead in earnest; he was fighting for his very life against +overwhelming odds, and he was really willing to surrender his kingdom +for some swift means of getting away from that desperate scene of +carnage. But if the cigarette boy had been faced pointblank with the +proposition I do not believe he would have agreed to give up _his_ +kingdom for the "coffin tack." + +Yes, this boy had a kingdom; every boy has a kingdom. + +As I paused on the corner, the three boys entered a store and quickly +came out, each with a cigarette in his mouth, taking deep inhalations +and expelling smoke through lips and nostrils as they sauntered down +the street. + +I was still thinking of the boy's kingdom. Through a wonderful plan +God, the Creator, puts each boy over an empire. Perhaps you may think +it is a small one, but to him it is greater and means more for his +success and happiness than any empire on earth. God places a scepter +in each boy's hand and says, "Govern!--Rule over your kingdom!" And it +is a very wonderful kingdom, with four splendid provinces called +Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual. Each of these provinces is +capable of producing great values and making rich and powerful almost +beyond belief. + +God also places at each boy's hand the resources for fighting off the +enemies of his kingdom. This defensive armament, which is also for +building work, in part consists of common sense, information (or +education), will-power, determination, aspiration, and physical +strength--and to make each of these effective, He gives His Word and +sends His Holy Spirit to guide and sustain. If a fellow just realized +it and would use what God puts in his hand he would have a kingdom he +wouldn't exchange for Solomon's. + +But, fellows, what a pity when a boy will exchange his kingdom for a +cigarette; in comes the cigarette; down goes the physical +province--the cigarette destroys the delicate tissues of the mucous +membrane; down goes the mental province--the cigarette makes the mind +dull and listless and takes away its snap and vigour; down goes the +social province--the cigarette makes its victim shun the best and seek +the lower grades of social life and activity; down goes the spiritual +province, the most precious of all--for spirit chokes and dies in the +atmosphere of the cigarette and its inevitable accompaniments. + +This, of course, is just one of the enemies of a boy's kingdom; I have +spoken of it particularly because it is the one which seems to catch +boys off their guard most easily. There are many others. Intemperance +of any kind is an enemy to the best interests of your empire. Send out +a proclamation to yourself, to-day, and put all provinces on notice +that _you_ are on your throne and God is your Counsellor--and that +henceforth none of the kingdom's enemies will be admitted across the +border. + + _Read 1 Corinthians 10:9-15._ + + + + +XLIII + +A TOOL BOX + + +Say, fellows, on one of my boyhood birthdays I received a tool box. It +was a peach of a tool box, too; not one of the dime store variety, +with a saw the same length as the gimlet, but with a set of tools that +no amateur carpenter would despise. I was greatly delighted with that +tool box, and immediately began planning the things I would make. +Mother wanted a shelf on the back porch and a coop for an old hen just +off with her chicks; my dog needed a dog house, and I even aspired to +a rowboat for the pond. I could hardly wait for material before +getting to work. Fingering over those tools, my eye fell upon a motto +graven on the inside of the lid of the box. It read: + +BE SURE YOU ARE RIGHT--THEN GO AHEAD + +Very good advice, I thought; but perhaps intended for fellows who knew +less about tools than I did. I guessed I was not so apt to make +mistakes, knowing so well what I wanted to do, and being so determined +to do it. Several dollars' worth of lumber and nails were laid in, and +I entered at once upon the work of "general manufacturing." Fritz was +wagging his tail and barking as if he had scented the dog house in my +plans, so I decided to attend to that first. It would have been better +to start with the shelf, as that was simpler; but I slashed away on +the dog house, and soon had some stuff sawed up for the framework. It +didn't match. I sawed some more, and that didn't match. I began to +think perhaps Fritz didn't specially need a dog house anyhow; so I +tried to work the dog house materials into the chicken coop, but that +wouldn't go, either. Then I sawed some more for the chicken coop. It +was not as simple a proposition as I had thought it would be, besides +there was a confusion of design somehow in my mind. The day wound up +with nothing accomplished, except a lot of good material butchered to +the point of kindling wood only. Next morning I tackled something I +"knew I could do,"--the shelf. But that proved to be a surprisingly +obstinate job; the supports I sawed at different angles, and when +trying to force the joints together by nailing, I split them both. The +shelf was a failure. + +Then I saw a light. + +I was rather dejectedly pondering the situation as I stood by the tool +box, and my eye fell again on that motto! In not one instance had I +made sure I was right before I went ahead. My zeal had been without +knowledge. I had mistaken "Purpose" and "Determination," as the high +prerequisites, instead of "Being Sure I was Right." + +Fellows, Saul the Pharisee had zeal without knowledge. He blazed away +upon the presumption that Jesus was an impostor. Why, the Jesus idea +was preposterous, Saul mused. God's Kingdom was to be set up with a +great capital at Jerusalem and a great and powerful king on the throne +to whom all the world around would come and pay tribute. Anybody who +claimed that the King had already come and been crucified like a thief +was a dangerous fanatic and should be haled to prison or put to death. + +This brilliant young Pharisee, carefully trained in ecclesiastical law +and the traditions of the elders, went forth bitterly persecuting the +followers of Jesus--even witnessing and approving the cruel stoning of +Stephen. This showed Saul's Purpose and Determination, which he +mistook for being Right. Well, we know that after that Saul suddenly +"saw a light"; but think of the havoc Saul wrought before he came to +his senses. Think of the Service Time wasted. Think of the fine +Material destroyed--sawn asunder. Think of Stephen! + +Fellows, are you building anything these days? Are you sure you are +Right? Or are you just blazing away at something because you have warm +red blood and all the zeal and purpose of youth? There is one thing +each one of you is building. You are building a Life. Oh, fellows, be +sure you are Right, for it is the most important structure you will +ever put up, and remember that "other foundation can no man lay than +that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Be sure you are right--then go +ahead. When your life is built on Jesus, you may go forward with +confidence. Any other way means wasted time, wasted material, regrets, +disappointment--and Failure at last. + + "I have not built my house on sands, + Tho' golden sands there be; + I have not built with greedy hands + A building fair to see; + But my house on a solid Rock, + And not the Builder I, + But guest in house to stand the shock + When tempests rend the sky. + Lo, Christ! the Builder of my house, + He laid foundation stone, + So reck I not if storms carouse, + For He will hold His own." + + _Read Acts 7:59-8:3._ + + + + +XLIV + +SAUL NIAGARA + + +Say, fellows, if there were two hundred railroad tracks out there, and +on each track, every moment, passed a freight train carrying fifty +cars, each car holding fifty tons of water (maximum load for the +largest tank car), the two hundred trains, with their ten thousand +cars per minute would not be more than sufficient to carry away the +water as fast as it tumbles over Niagara Falls. With crushing and +destructive force that mighty volume plunges downward into a great +stone bowl which it has carved out for itself, so deep that if the +Woolworth Building were set down in it not more than half of it would +show above the top of the Falls. Engineers have estimated the total +energy of Niagara Falls at sixteen million horse-power! + +Fellows, I think of the life of Saul, afterward known as the Apostle +Paul, as somewhat like Niagara River. The great river flows +majestically, uninterruptedly, more than half of its length, having a +fall of not more than twenty feet in twenty-two miles. Then suddenly +something happens. Something tremendously tragic and startling +happens. It plunges headlong over a precipice. Here is power gone mad. + +Saul, the Pharisee, the scholar, the zealot--the colossal +mind--sweeping everything before him like an irresistible tide, riding +upon the crest of power, haling men and women to prison, breathing out +threatenings and slaughter and making havoc of the church, fell +headlong to the earth, as a blinding light burst forth from heaven and +the voice of the Lord sounded in his ears--the "still small voice," +yet mightier than the roar of any cataract. + +"Who art thou, Lord?" "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." "Lord, what +wilt thou have me to do?" Saul's conversion was complete. Convert +means to _turn about_. It means an entire change; not to be robbed of +one's powers, but to have those powers diverted into another and +entirely different channel. + +Look again at the Falls--that great destructive mass tumbling over the +cliff, beating rocks to pieces and slashing gigantic gorges in its +course. What is happening? Science is harnessing the power of the +cataract and with it producing light and heat and power for the cities +of Canada and the United States. Darkness is dispelled, warmth takes +the place of chill, the wheels of industry are humming, and men and +women are enabled to live and make bread for their little ones, +because of the conversion of a mighty force into life-giving +usefulness. + +Fellows, some people seem to think to accept Christ as the Master of +their lives means to take away or paralyze their powers--to deprive +them of some special activeness they possess and which they shrink +from giving up. Bless you, there could not be a worse mistake. To +accept Christ means to have those same powers, even though they might +have been devoted to evil, now turned into channels of finest, highest +service--the kind of service that really satisfies the cravings of the +human heart. I see a boy who, because he is of an intensely sociable +disposition, seeks the companionship of a gang of fellows around the +loafing places and pool-rooms in the evenings. Touched by the spirit +of Christ, those social qualities will be even more enthusiastically +devoted to winning other young people into Christian life and service. +I see a young fellow with an unbroken will, glorying in his freedom, +as he sees it, to resist the counsels of wiser ones against his evil +habits, cigarettes or any other destructive thing that may have gotten +into his life. That same will-power, that same stubbornness, touched +by the power of Christ becomes the rock-ribbed steadfastness that has +enabled men to put through great achievements for God. I see a boy who +can invent much devilment and get himself and others into an almost +incredible amount of trouble and sorrow. It might be the judgment of +some that "killing is the only thing good for him," but touched by the +spirit of Jesus, that boy becomes a veritable genius for doing +effective things to promote the Kingdom of God--and no fellow in the +community happier than he. He verily throbs with the joy of living. + +No, fellows, you don't turn a river back up-stream to convert it; you +simply harness it, and its powers flow on, but for good and not for +destruction. If you want to be a power that blesses wherever it +touches, and dashes back into your own heart the spray of the salt +and the tang of the fresh morning air, hear to-day the Voice of your +Master, and quickly answer: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" + + _Read Acts 9:1-19._ + + + + +XLV + +"TURNING THE BATTLE AT THE GATE" + + +Say, fellows, now and then a thing happens which sets our blood +tingling and makes every nerve in us want to send up a mighty shout. +For instance, when the score is against us in the ninth inning, and +with two men out and the bases full, our pinch hitter comes to bat, +coolly waits, picks out the "good one," and swats the pill over +left-field fence! Or when Hindenburg's hordes are pouring into the +Marne wedge, almost to the gates of Paris, Foch calmly waits--and +prays while he waits--then at the crucial moment hurls those chafing +reserves against them, turns disaster into victory and enshrines the +names of Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and the American Marines in +song and story for ages to come. + +Fellows, every life is a campaign, and it is the biggest game of all; +into this great contest come crises now and then, and the way we meet +them largely determines the result. If those crises have not begun to +come in your life, let it be the sure sign to you that God is holding +them off while He gives you the opportunity to make the necessary +preparation for them, for come they will. There will be times when the +storm is breaking around your head and the ground will seem to be +crumbling beneath your feet. Such times come to every fellow who sets +his face to a principle and determines to stand like a man, no matter +what it costs. + +Fellows, Paul was that kind of a man. He had that steadfastness to +principle, that firmness of purpose, which gave him poise when all +about him was tumult. Other men lost their heads; Paul kept cool. It +was a critical moment around the temple court that morning; the Jewish +mob was murderous, the Roman chief captain was petulant, and he was +cold and relentless as steel. + +Paul had to handle both on separate grounds to keep them from +"handling" him--and both at the same time. He shrewdly "played both +ends against the middle." He drew from his quiver two keen but +entirely different arrows, and both "went home." To the chief captain, +he whispered one small word, "I am a Roman citizen." That made the +grim warrior's jaw drop. It thoroughly frightened him and gave him +such profound respect for his prisoner that on a later occasion he did +Paul a very vital service. + +To the mob of Jews clamouring for Paul's life, Paul having gained the +chief captain's permission, turned and informed them in the Hebrew +tongue that he was a better Jew than any of them, and he made out his +case so well that they listened--and before they realized it, Paul had +accomplished his object and delivered his shot, which was to proclaim +Christ as "that Just One," the Saviour of the world--including the +despised Gentiles. The Truth had gone home, and they gnashed their +teeth, tore their own clothes into shreds, and threw dust into the +air, while Paul was taken into the castle for further examination +and, for the time being, was safe. + +Fellows, baseball does furnish now and then a moment's thrill--and +thank God for the clean game; a world war makes the earth tremble for +many years--and may the Lord have pity upon its victims; but Paul was +grappling the Big Event upon which Eternity shivers--the Disaster of +rejecting Jesus Christ! And as we look upon Paul's life, his superb +manner of meeting great crises as they came, how he held not his own +life dear, we think of one of the great sayings of the prophet Isaiah: + +"_In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for +a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit +of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength_ TO THEM +THAT TURN THE BATTLE AT THE GATE." + +Fellows, if you and I want a career that will give highest +satisfaction now, and will best bear record in Eternity, let's make +Christ at once its dominant Theme and sustaining Power! + + _Read Acts 21:27-40 and 22:1-24._ + + + + +XLVI + +A KING IN RAGS + + +Say, fellows, a little ragamuffin--so the story goes--was being set +upon by a mob of larger boys in the streets of London many years ago. +These big bullies were jeering him and throwing sticks and cans at +him. The little fellow was plucky and defiant, and it made them all +the more cruel. + +Suddenly there appeared in the crowd a tall swarthy young fellow +slashing the tormentors right and left; until, after a stiff and +unequal fight, in which the rescuer was greatly outmatched in +strength, the cowardly ruffians were put to flight. That little +ragamuffin was no less a personage than the King of England, and the +curious circumstance by which he got into those rags and into that +cruel torture is told by Mark Twain, in his most interesting +story-book, "The Prince and the Pauper." + +In a later chapter we see the little king restored to his rightful +place upon the throne, and there amid the splendour of the court with +all the lords and ladies looking on, a tall, swarthy young man +advances and kneels and is knighted by the king. It is the same young +man who broke through the crowd, and at the risk of getting his own +head cracked took the part of the helpless little ragamuffin, not +knowing he was a king. + +That sounds like a romance--and it is; but, fellows, the same thing in +all its interesting elements and its happy outcome is happening +to-day in the streets and homes of your town and mine. All about us +there are folks being set upon--cruelly set upon. The tormentors may +not be ruffians in flesh and blood. They may simply be cruel +circumstances. Sometimes fire, sometimes sickness, sometimes financial +loss, sometimes accident, sometimes a combination of a number of +pestering calamities, getting the victim down and making life very +miserable in mind and uncomfortable in body. + +Now think of the folks in your block, fellows; how many of them are in +some sad plight which would make you shrink from exchanging places +with them? They are being set upon; can you get in there and help in +some way,--you with your good free strong arm, your big, sympathetic +heart, your pocketbook, your resources of interest and fun? + +And whom will you choose to help, and why? Will it be Tom Jones up +here on the corner, who broke his arm and needs somebody to come sit +with him and talk,--Tom Jones, who is rich and has a car of his own, +and who will likely share it with you when he gets well, if you are +good to him? Or will it be little Willie Bell over there across the +railroad, who is a hopeless cripple, whose folks are poor as anything, +and who can probably never repay you in any sort of way? + +Do you know, fellows, why some folks choose the Willie Bells to help? +Why, it is because they love Jesus Christ. They believe God's Word as +it tells us in to-day's wonderful passage in Matthew: "Then shall the +King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, +inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: +for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me +drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; +I was sick and ye visited me.... Then shall the righteous answer him, +saying, Lord, when did we see _thee_ hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or +sick--and helped?... And the King shall answer and say unto them, +Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of +these, ye have done it unto me." + +You see, fellows, it takes some faith and some imagination. Ask God to +give you, first, Faith. Then ask Him to give you a consecrated +Imagination. Then you will see in every unfortunate person that you +can help--you will see _your King_. You have His own word for it, to +justify that imagination and to confirm it. + +Oh, yes, you may sometimes in your zeal help somebody who is unworthy. +Don't let the fear of that make you miss the blessing. The very fact +that you go to him in the name of your Christ and for His sake, may be +the means of helping that poor unworthy one to cast off his rags of +sin and become clothed in the righteousness of your King. + +I tell you, fellows, it is a wonderful thing to be in the service of +such a Master. All your efforts for Him are given full value. Even +your mistakes, if honestly made are transmuted into the gold of +satisfaction. Let's launch out for Him, to-day. Let's take Him at His +word, and see how it works. + + _Read Matthew 25:31-46._ + + + + +XLVII + +SHAKING UP PHILIPPI + + +Say, fellows, that was one exciting day in Philippi. Not since Mark +Antony's Roman legions went tearing through to meet and destroy the +armies of Brutus and Cassius, nearly a hundred years before, had the +town been so shaken up; and all because of two inoffensive looking +Jews who had quietly walked in there and told about Jesus Christ. They +had come over the winding road from Neapolis, nine miles distant on +the seashore, where they had gotten out of a ship from Asia. A poor +crazy girl, a fortune teller, heard the message, her heart was changed +and she became sane and normal; it put an end to her "fortune telling" +and this enraged her masters, who had Paul and Silas arrested and put +into prison. + +That created some stir, but it was nothing to what was to follow. The +jailer seemed to take special pains to make his prisoners secure, +putting them in an inside cell and making their feet fast in the +stocks. These fellows looked so unworried that he probably suspected +they had a well-laid plan to escape. The jailer was further surprised +to hear the two prisoners singing--actually singing some of their +hymns, though they must have been in great discomfort. + +Away into the night they sang. The other prisoners heard them and +marvelled. Surely these new jail-birds had something which they, the +old ones, did not possess. The jailer, as he retired, doubtless +remarked to his wife: "Well, there's something uncanny about those two +men; here it is midnight and they are singing and going on like two +schoolboys on a picnic excursion!" + +He hadn't been asleep long, when a brick fell out of the mantelpiece +near the jailer's bed and the furniture about the room began to dance +a jig. Mrs. Jailer screamed and the children began to cry in terror. +The door creaked and pushed off its hinges, falling with a slam-bang. +The jailer jumped and landed in the middle of the floor. A flash of +lightning put a photograph on his staring eye that he never got rid of +to his dying day. The prison walls were cracked and falling, the doors +were down and the dazed prisoners were groping about. + +Alas, poor jailer, the thing of all most dreaded was about to +happen--his prisoners would escape! Earthquakes were bad enough, but +the sudden thought he got of himself answering to the governor next +morning with his life for the escape of those put in his charge was +more than he could bear. Reaching for his sword he placed it, hilt to +the ground, to fall upon its point and end his life right there;--then +he heard a clear voice coming through the darkness: "Stop! don't do +that. We're all here; nobody wants to get away." + +It was one of those psalm singing Jews! he recognized that at once, +and putting up his sword he called to his wife to light the lamp quick +and bring it; then he rushed into the cell where Paul and Silas stood, +their feet free from stocks and hands unmanacled, and fell down on his +face before them. + +"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And the Philippian jailer was +thinking about the peril of his soul, for like a flash it had been +revealed to him that these men were from God. Paul's answer came quick +and true: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, +and thy house." And thy house--for Paul saw behind the jailer his +crouching, trembling wife and children. Paul told them all about it +then, and as the blessed truth came into their hearts, they stopped +trembling and began to find new hope in Jesus and a new joy in +service. Immediately, the jailer and his wife got basins of water and +washed the bruised stripes on the backs of the men. They saw in those +stripes the suffering Saviour's wounds which they would like to +soften; very differently they had viewed them the evening before. +Right there Paul baptized the whole household, and quickly afterward +the jailer straightened up the tumbled down kitchen stove and Mrs. +Jailer cooked something good and savoury for the men of God to eat. + +Fellows, it ends like a fairy tale, which says "they lived happy ever +after," for the record says the jailer "rejoiced, believing in God, +with all his house." And in this one word, "Rejoiced," I would like to +hand you the strangely wonderful and fine thing in to-day's lesson. +Rejoicing puts the climax of satisfaction of joy into any experience. +Let it stand the test proof of rejoicing and you've got the true +value. If believing in and serving Jesus Christ could bring rejoicing +to a jailer and his household under such circumstances, surely then we +can better understand the force of Paul's word to Timothy when he +speaks of "the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." + +Here is a jailer. A jailer's office at best would not be much of a +rejoice shop. This jailer's life is in jeopardy when his prisoners +escape. His jail is cracked open, the doors are down and he cannot +shut them. The prisoners are walking about. At daylight he must reckon +with the authorities. Yet he is rejoicing. And the secret of his +rejoicing is in his believing--believing God. + +Fellows, it means everything to believe--to believe like the +Philippian jailer did. He not only accepted Christ and was baptized, +but he immediately began to minister to Christ's servants. It was the +one way in which he could in those first moments of his belief express +his faith, and he did it. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the +least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." + +This is the thing which is crowned by Rejoicing. + + _Read Acts 16:16-34._ + + + + +XLVIII + +GO IN YET--AND WIN! + + +Say, fellows, look in upon three interesting personalities--Paul, +Barnabas and Mark; each one widely differing from the other two, yet +their lives bound up together in the biggest enterprise the world ever +knew--the winning of the world for Christ. + +They are planning another big "hike"--one that will be full of +hardship and perils, and Paul and Barnabas are having a hot discussion +about Mark. Barnabas wants to take him and Paul wants to leave +him--and why? Well, last year when they were taking a trip of this +kind, Mark left them and went back home. Paul says he's done with +Mark; if a fellow hasn't got a backbone better than a stick of +spaghetti, he doesn't want to load up with him. Barnabas, on the other +hand, thinks a lot of Mark; in fact, Mark is his nephew and he has a +strong interest in him. He knows Mark made a mistake back there in +Pamphylia, but who does not make a slip sometime? "Let's give him +another chance; he will make good because he is deeply sorry; I have +talked to him and I know that he is determined to redeem himself." + +"No," says Paul, and his jaw is set; "I would like to give him another +chance, but the Cause is too great and too important to take chances +on a fellow who has thrown a chance away." + +So it goes. Both men are determined, and there happens the only thing +that can happen under such circumstances; they separate. Paul chooses +Silas as his companion, while Barnabas takes Mark with him. Barnabas +was one of the biggest-hearted fellows you ever saw. His very name +means, "Son of Consolation." He couldn't bear to see a fellow denied +the chance to make good. Paul, himself, had been befriended in that +same way by Barnabas at Jerusalem only a few years before. Humanly +speaking, it was through the friendly offices of Barnabas that Paul +had risen to prominence in the church. + +Fellows, I am not criticizing Paul (far be it from me), because Paul +was doubtless conscientious in his stand about Mark; but let me tell +you fellows--don't ever miss a chance to help some poor fellow who has +made a mistake, to make good. One of the finest things that will come +to your experience will be seeing your touch of sympathy and +encouragement put life and hope into some unfortunate "Down but not +out." + +What happened to Mark? Why, he made good. He made so good that Paul +afterward sent for him, and he and Paul put through some great schemes +together for Jesus Christ. And that was not all; one of the four +Gospels bears Mark's name. Think of what an honour that was! Peter got +him to help him write it. Yes, Mark made good. + +I heard of a fine young fellow the other night, only eighteen years +old, who because he had made a mistake--had made a bad break and lost +his job--who knowing he was himself to blame--had formed some habits +that contributed to his downfall--for all that was hopelessly dejected +and actually saying he wished he could die. Well, what do you think of +that? With all the best and biggest part of his life before him, with +youth and health and loving parents, and some good friends ready to +help him, wanting to die! Piffle! + +Do you know, I just wanted to slap that fellow on the back and bring +him to his senses. Make good? Of course he could. "Come back?" Sure! +There is just one thing to do with a failure, fellows. Get on top of +it with both feet and bury it--with success. + +I heard of an old horse, too old and sick to work. His owner wanted to +get rid of him but was unwilling to shoot him. The old horse just +wouldn't die. He was that spunky. One day, he dropped into a well in +the pasture, but he hit the bottom still upon his feet. His owner, +thinking it a chance now to rid himself of his horse, took a shovel +and began vigorously shovelling the dirt in to cover him. But as each +shovel of dirt landed on the horse's back, he shook his skin, like +horses do, and trod the dirt down under his feet. Soon, the horse's +back appeared at the top of the well, and in another moment the old +fellow climbed out and began to crop the grass. + + "You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that? + Come up with a smiling face. + It's nothing against you to fall down flat; + But to lie there--that's a disgrace. + + "The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce. + Be proud of your blackened eye! + It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts; + It's how did you fight--and why." + +Fellows, what must be the opportunity for rising, to a fellow whose +God says to him: "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is +made perfect in weakness!" + + _Read Acts 15:36-41._ + + + + +XLIX + +GREEN FRUIT + + +Say, fellows, did you ever spend two days making a kite and just about +the time she was all ready, bridles adjusted and tail properly +balanced, it set in to rain? + +Can't you see that beautiful thing, done in blue, all spangled over +with silver stars, leaning up there in the corner, panting for its +maiden voyage into the empyrean? And you have wound on a stick a fine +strong cord from the ball you purchased and hold it in your hand as +you stand by the window, looking with disgust and disappointment at +what seems to be developing into "a United States rain." No, son, you +might as well get a book and settle down for the afternoon, for there +is no kite-flying to be done to-day. Thank your silver stars if you +get her up by tomorrow! + +And right here, fellows, make a note of this: whenever you are balked +in a scheme, stopped in your plans--right spang up against a stone +wall!--ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will prove a godsend and +a blessing to you in the end--IF you take it right. + +I wish every fellow could get the habit under such circumstances, of +stopping still a moment and saying to himself: "Hey here, this thing +has a _meaning_--what can it be?" That will yield a better dividend +than fretting over the interruption. As a rule, he will discover +something he can be doing while he waits, something that immensely +strengthens the main chance. + +When Lord Clive, "the founder of the Empire of India," sailed from +England for Madras, at the age of eighteen, all impatient to enter +upon his life plan, storms overtook the ship and so far diverted her +course that within a month young Clive found himself stranded in a +port of Brazil instead of India. There he had to remain nine months +before he resumed his voyage; but what did he do? Chafe over the +interruption and delay? Bless you, no; he seized the opportunity to +master the Portuguese language, which accomplishment proved to be a +tremendous asset later on, in his great constructive work in India. + +Paul and Silas, as they travelled through those provinces of Western +Asia Minor, all afire with their great purpose of preaching the +Gospel, met blank disappointment. Upon arrival at each point they were +confronted with an unmistakable message from the Holy Spirit to keep +their mouths shut. What could it mean? What was the use? Should they +give it up? Should they sit down and sulk? No, said Paul, we will keep +agoing; the Lord will show us what He wants us to do when He is ready. +And sure enough, the big orders came one night in a vision to Paul, in +which a man appeared and delivered to him the great Macedonian +Call--the call which opened up to that patiently waiting servant +"God's Greater Plan" for his life--a far more splendid one than he +had ever dreamed of. + +Fellows, I cannot give you any finer thing out of that period of +Paul's life, so full of fine things, than the thought of patient +waiting upon God's plan--His plan _for you_. And it does not mean to +sit still; rather the contrary. "All things come to him who (hustles +while he) waits." That is the revised version of an old saw, and I +like it better. + +Here is a sad case of a young fellow I know. He had an ambition to +shine, but he wasn't willing to do the tedious grinding and polishing +so vitally necessary to shining. He had a chance at college, but he +also wanted to be a social lion, all too soon. He could not afford it +in the first place; he couldn't spare the time from his studies, in +the next place; but he spent his dad's money anyhow and he let his +classes go bang. He did the social stunt--on credit. Result: he got +E's and F's on his grades and he was shipped. The faculty regards that +kind of a student as demoralizing to the morale of a first-class +institution. In fact he could not be called a student; he was an +"inmate," and it is hard to make an alumni out of inmates. + +This young fellow landed back home for the summer, "out of luck," in +debt, and a cruel disappointment to his doting parents. He had done +the social stunt, but he picked the fruit before it was ripe, and now +it's hurting him inside. + +_He flew his kite in the rain!_ + +He decided he would make good by being a civil engineer. He wanted to +be a civil engineer right away, but when he started in he found that +the first stages of civil engineering consisted in carrying a chain +and a rod up and down hill in the heat and taking orders from a smart +chap who looked through a telescope and made notes, so within a few +days he quit; he wasn't willing to pay the price. He thought he would +play the violin, but he wasn't willing to spend hours practising the +scales and simple fingering, so he laid aside the violin. He wanted to +play Schubert's Serenade right off, but on learning the cost, he +contented himself with whistling it. + +Fellows, he is of the sort that make up the great throng of +fourth-raters in the world to-day, drifting here and there; or +settling down with a family on his hands and a little two-by-four job +to eke out a bare living. And you fellows may as well face this fact: +you've got to _stint_, if you're going to pull off a stunt. No stint, +no stunt. Stinting is only another name for work and patience and +economy combined, and it brings its inevitable fruit--Success! + + _Read Acts 16:6-15._ + + + + +L + +THE BEDOUIN SLAVE + + +Say, fellows, I heard a story from the banks of the Nile which stirred +my blood. It may be only a legend, but it contains a big thought, and +I want you to have it. All day upon the hot sands the battle had +raged, and as the sun was setting a Bedouin chief fell, mortally +wounded. Quickly his watchful body-servant eased his master's dying +form from the back of the Arabian steed and dragged him out of the +thick fighting to a protected spot where he might say his last word +and die in comparative quiet. The chieftain's words were few but +significant. He simply said to his man: "Go and tell Allah that I +come." The loyal slave knew what it meant: only his spirit could carry +a message like that, and the clay house it occupied must be destroyed +before the spirit would depart. + +Possibly he hesitated as his hand grasped the hilt of his dagger, for +life was sweet even to a slave; back home was a slave-maid in the +house of his master, and she had been promised as his bride upon +return from this campaign in the valley of the Nile. Many a daydream +of the future had served to shorten the tedious marches over the hot +sands as he rode beside his master. Long after the camp was asleep +the slave gazed at the star which seemed to guard her whose life and +future were bound up in his own. But only a moment he paused; one more +look at his chief, whose fast ebbing blood stained the sand upon which +he lay--this chief who was not only his master by right of actual +ownership, but one who had been always his benefactor and friend--one +searching look into the eyes whose merest glance he had learned to +interpret for a last sign of recognition; then with a firm, +unfaltering hand he drew his blade and thrust it deep into his own +heart, that his spirit might be free to fly "to Allah," with the +announcement of his master's coming. + +Now, fellows, there is something fine about that, even if it +be only a romance. Loyalty that rises to the height of complete +self-forgetfulness challenges the best that is in us. But, after all, +the picture falls to pieces because it is built upon a false faith and +a suicide. I am glad that you and I can to-day, in real life, take +part in something finer--something requiring just as superb loyalty, +and for a Cause that is really worth the best that is in us. + +Jesus Christ is the Chief of all chieftains. His last words upon earth +were, "Go ye--tell them." They were not the words of a dying chief, +but of one gloriously alive and triumphant over death, the last and +greatest enemy of all; not the command of one powerless in the +presence of his foes, but one who could say, "All power is given unto +me in heaven and in earth;" not a master who must send his obedient +slave on a fearful and futile mission alone, but one who girds his +courier with the assurance, "And lo, I am with you alway, even unto +the end of the world." + +Saul caught a great vision of service when Jesus spoke to him in the +way. Prostrate upon the ground in the blinding light, Saul did not +say, "Lord, let me die!" He said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to +_live and do_?" You and I may say just as big and fine a thing as that +to our Lord to-day. Jesus' command to Saul was in substance, "Go +ye--tell them." It is the same to you and me. + +Will it cost you anything to obey? Yes, it will cost you your life. +But not in the hopeless way the Arab's slave gave his. Your hand is on +the hilt of the dagger, but Jesus is not requiring a man so much to +die for Him these days; He is calling for living couriers, those who +will give their lives _in life_ for Him. So you plunge the dagger deep +into--not your heart, but your false pride--that thing which keeps you +back from "announcing" your Master's Name. You plunge it deep into +that thing in your life plan which would interfere with a real program +of witnessing for Jesus. With God's help you stab that habit of +thought or act which stifles your impulse to do His will and +embarrasses you in trying to serve Him. It is what Paul meant when he +said to the Galatians, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the +flesh with the passions and lusts." + +Fellows, every one of us can be a herald of our Master's coming to the +souls about us who have not realized His near approach. No matter what +our "business" or "profession," if it be a fair and honest one we can +make it a help to our witnessing. There is no proper relationship in +life which may not afford the opportunity to tell about Jesus Christ +and His deathless love. + +Saul became a messenger of Christ for his whole time. Comparatively +few are called of God into the ministry; but every boy should +seriously face the question, under God's guidance, whether or not he +be one of those few. Take a pencil and draw a vertical line on a sheet +of paper. On one side the line put down the reasons why you should go +into the ministry; on the other side, the reasons why you should not. +Be honest with yourself and with God. Weigh each reason, for or +against, upon your knees. Ask God to give you a clear vision of the +course He wants you to take. With all the earnestness of your soul, +ask Him, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Be still and listen. +And then, fellows, you will hear that unmistakable but "still small +voice," and He will send you forth surefooted in a path plainly +marked. + +Oh, fellows, it is great to have clear running orders, with such a +Message and such a Master! Don't miss it. + + _Read Matthew 28:16-20._ + + + + * * * * * * + + +CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK + + +WILLIAM ALLEN HARPER +President Elon College, +North Carolina + +Reconstructing the Church + +12mo. + +Dr. Harper solves the problems of federated and community churches, +industrialism and social reconstruction, etc., along lines compatible +with the teachings and spirit of Jesus. + +PETER AINSLIE, D.D. +Editor of "The Christian +Union Quarterly" + +If Not a United Church--What? + +The Reinicker Lectures at the Protestant Episcopal Theological +Seminary in Virginia. 12mo. + +The first of a series of Handbooks presenting the proposals of a +United Christendom. Dr. Ainslie writes vigorously, yet without heat or +partisanship, and presents a cogent and lucid plea for the cause that +must be answered. + +FRANK L. BROWN +Gen'l Sec. World S.S. Assoc. +American Section + +Plans for Sunday School Evangelism + +12mo. + +"Here is a record of a successful superintendent's experience, +supplemented by unusual opportunities to observe how other +superintendents and pastors won their scholars to Christ. If you buy +only one book this year--let it be this one."--_S.S. Times._ + +HOWARD J. GEE + +Methods of Church School Administration + +16mo. + +A Text Book for Community Training Schools and International and State +Schools of Sunday School Methods. Margaret Slattery says: "Practical +and adaptable to schools of various sizes in either city or country. +Will meet a long-felt need. I endorse both plan and purpose heartily." + +E.C. KNAPP +General Secretary Inland Empire +State Sunday School Association + +The Sunday School Between Sundays + +12mo. + +Mr. Knapp offers a large number of ideas and suggestions, all of which +are practical and capable of tangible realization. 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