Читать книгу With the Children on Sundays - Stall Sylvanus - Страница 9

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Suggestions To Parents:—It will awaken the curiosity and add greatly to the interest of the children if the parent will have them secure during the week preceding a couple of oyster shells. In most of cities and towns, these can be easily obtained. It is better for the children themselves to secure them, because it makes them participants and important factors in what is to be done. Do not tell them in advance what use is to be made of the oyster shells; simply say that they are for use in connection with Sunday afternoon.

Introduce the play idea from the beginning. Let the children arrange the chairs to "drive to church," as shown in the preceding pictures. If there are two children who both want to do the driving, suggest that one can drive to church and the other can drive when returning from church—and a third may drive from the house to the stable when the horses are to be put away.

At the church service let everything be done reverently, and make it a matter of real worship. One of the children can act as usher, and if there is but one child, this one can usher her dolls to seats; or imaginary people may be shown to seats. All of this will appeal very strongly to the child. Select hymns suited to the children's tastes and such as they can sing. Do not sing too many verses. Children like variety.

The service ought to be such as is in harmony with that regularly attended by the parents, and such as the children are familiar with. It may be as informal as the Salvation Army, or a greatly abridged form of the "Episcopal Service" can be used. The Lord's Prayer may be repeated in unison, or sentence prayers used, or a brief selection from the Prayer Book. The preaching by one of the children should precede the reading of the Object sermon.

After carrying out the idea of the church service, the other ideas presented may be introduced, and after the imaginary drive home some simple refreshments can be served, as also mentioned in the chapter of "Suggestions to Parents" on page 17.

Oyster and Shell.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I want to speak to you to-day about "Having a good conscience." (I Peter iii: 16.) This is rather a hard subject, but I desire to make it plain by the use of a familiar object. "What's this I have in my hand?" I rather expected that you would say an oyster; but, really it is nothing but an oyster shell. I suppose you have all eaten stewed oysters, or oyster broth. I remember, when a little boy, that one day when we had stewed oysters for supper, I found a little yellow something in my broth. I did not know whether my mother had put it in purposely, or whether it had fallen in by accident; whether I should push it aside of my plate, that it might be thrown with the crumbs to the chickens, or whether I should eat it to discover what it was.

Little Crab.

I suppose you have all seen these little animals in your soup, and know that they are called crabs. Now, do you know how the crab comes to be in with the oyster? I will tell you how it is. The oyster lives in the water at the bottom of the bay, and some bright day, when the sun is shining down genial and warm, just the same as in the summer, we open the doors, and sit out on the porch to enjoy the cool of the day; so the oyster opens his shells and lets the cool currents of water move gently through his house. But while lying there with his shells wide open, along comes a great hungry fish. He sees the oyster, but the oyster cannot see him. The oyster cannot see, for he has no eyes. He cannot hear, for he has no ears. Of the five senses which each of us have, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling, the oyster can only tell of the presence of his enemy when he feels himself being dragged out of his house, and being quickly swallowed by the fish. But his knowledge of what is happening only comes when it is too late.

Fish Going to Eat the Oyster.

Now, with the little crab, who also lives in the same neighborhood with the oyster, it is quite different. The crab has eyes, and can see the hungry fish that comes to eat him up. He has legs, with which to try and run away; but the fish can swim so much faster than the little crab can run that he is sure to be devoured before the race is half over. So what do you think the little crab does? He crawls along quietly, and creeps into the shell with the oyster, and the oyster and the crab enter into a kind of partnership for mutual protection. After this, when the oyster opens his shells, the little crab uses his eyes very diligently to look around, and watch for the approach of any fish. As soon as he spies any sly fish coming near, he pinches the oyster, and immediately the oyster closes his shells very tightly, and the oyster and the crab are both within, safely protected from the fish.

Now, boys and girls, we are something like the oyster. We are constantly exposed to the danger of being destroyed by sin. We cannot see sin, we cannot hear sin, we cannot perceive it by any of our senses. So God has given us a conscience, which means "to know with God." When you are tempted to do a sinful act, it is conscience that quickly whispers, "Now that is wicked," "If you do that, God will be displeased."

Let me illustrate this thought. One real pleasant day, when the birds are singing, and everything is attractive out of doors, Johnnie thinks how hard it is to be studying his lessons in what he calls a prison of a school-room. He knows that papa and mamma will not give him permission to stay at home; so a little before nine o'clock, as he saunters towards the school, Satan suggests to him to play "hookey," and when he comes to the corner of the street, looking back to be sure that no one sees him, he turns the corner to remain out of school, intending to come home at the regular time for dinner and escape discovery. Just as soon as he turns the corner, and even before that, conscience has seen the danger, and whispers strong and clear, "Johnnie, this is wicked; you will surely get into trouble, and you will make papa and mamma sad, and also displease God." Now, if Johnnie does not turn right back when conscience warns him, he is sure to go on without having any pleasure all that forenoon, because his conscience continues to warn and reprove him.

"Willie is more frightened than the dog."

Or suppose that Willie goes down the street and sees Mr. Brown's dog a little ways off. He looks around quickly for a stone, and immediately conscience says, "Now, Willie, don't hit the poor dog, for the stone will cause him pain, just as it would if some one were to hit you with a stone." But Willie does not listen to conscience. He throws the stone with all his might. It strikes on the pavement, just by the side of the dog, glances and breaks in many pieces the large plate glass in the window of the drug store.

Willie is more frightened than the dog, and without a moment's forethought he runs around the corner, to get out of sight. And after concealing himself for a time in the alley, he steals quietly into the house at the back door. How he dreads to meet his father and mother. Every time the door bell rings he thinks surely that it is the druggist or the policeman. Oh! how this sin pains him; just like the oyster would be hurt if he does not heed the little crab, when he warns him that the fish is coming to destroy him. If Willie had only listened to conscience, what sin and trouble it would have saved him. So, boys and girls, God has given each of us a conscience, and if we want to be saved from sin and suffering, we should always be quick to obey our conscience. Let each of us try and "keep a good conscience."

Questions.—Can the oyster see or hear? Can it feel? What often destroys the oyster? What lives down under the water near the oyster? Can the little crab see? Can he get away from the fish? How does he assist the oyster? How does he warn the oyster of danger? Can boys or girls see sin? What has God given each of us to warn us of danger when sin is near? Does every boy and girl have a conscience? Does conscience always give warning? Do boys and girls always obey their conscience? Should conscience always be obeyed? Will you always try to obey conscience in the future? The parent may ask additional questions or make application in any other manner they deem best.

Next Sunday the sermon will be about the worm in the apple. Let one of the children get a nice, large, perfect apple, and also another apple which has been dwarfed and deformed because of a worm inside the apple. These will be the objects which we shall use next Sunday.