IN THE TEMPLE.
O'ER Judah's plains sweet Spring had
thrown
Her flowery robe of living green.
And Nature in her gala robes
Was mantled like a fairy queen.
High o'er the temple's burnished towers
The sunshine fell like molten gold,
And flamed and flashed from glittering spire,
From pinnacle and turret old.
While through the city's busy street
Echoed the tread of countless feet.
Far over Judah's hills they come,
From shepherd lad to stately priest,
To ancient Salem's gates they haste
To keep the sacred Paschal Feast.
Look, who is he, that youthful Lad, -
Standing within the temple fair?
Why do not Israel's sages know
That he — the Paschal Lamb — is there?
Strange blindness, that they knew him not, -
Those gray haired men, those learned
seers:
Useless the Rabbi's studied lore,
The vain philosophy of years.
From out those sacred, youthful lips
Flow wondrous words of heavenly lore, —
Such words of purity and grace
As man had never heard before.
And now, a kind, obedient Son,
No thought had he of earthly fame,
But 'mong the hills of Nazareth
A humble carpenter became.
He took our fallen nature; he
Who made the hosts which roll above
Of Abraham's frail seed partook,
In godlike sympathy and love.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
In The Temple
Slaying of Innocents
SLAYING OF THE INNOCENTS.
THUS one by one the days go by
Since, in the brightening orient sky,
The wise men saw the shining star
Gleam over Bethlehem's hills afar,
And since the shepherd's hearts were stirred
By sweetest song ear ever heard.
But ah ! those echoes scarce had died
O'er Judah's hills and vales so wide, —
Those hills and vales which lately flung
The echoes back from angel tongue, —
Ere, from those selfsame hills, arise
Loud wails of anguish to the skies.
O Herod ! heed'st thou not the cry
Of Rachel's anguish, rising high, —
That long, loud wail of mortal pain
From tender babes thy sword hath slain?
Why dost thou raise thy puny arm
To do the Lord's Anointed harm?
Dost thou not know th' Eternal One
Will shield his well beloved Son?
To far-off Egypt's friendly land
He journeys, led by angel hand;
There, safe from cruel rage, is borne,
While Rama's daughters weep and mourn.
O crafty Herod, vain thy might
When waged against Eternal Right.
Vain, vain shall be thy godless boasts,
Thy conflict with the Lord of Hosts.
Birth
BIRTH
O'ER Bethlehem's hills the stars of night
Were softly shining, clear and bright;
The flocks and herds were sleeping still,
On verdant dale and dewy hill,
And o'er earth's calm and peaceful breast
A benediction seemed to rest,
As though the whole creation knew,
And smiled a welcome warm and true
To Him, her long-expected Lord,
Foretold by Inspiration's Word, —
Foretold and sung by seer and sage,
Bright Star of Hope, from age to age.
Hark, hark! what strains of music rare,
Like faintest perfume fill the air!
And louder still, and still more loud.
Bursts from that swift descending cloud:
Such glorious notes ring o'er and o'er
As weary earth ne'er heard before;
Aloud the heavenly heralds sing.
While through the spheres the echoes ring.
''Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good will to men!"
And the heavens caught the glad refrain,
And echoed it o'er again.
Then up from the hills of glory
There echoed the thrilling cry,
Rejoice, O Earth, for the Christ is born!
Glory to God on high!"
Monday, March 28, 2022
Content with a humble position...
"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." 1 John 3:1
 |
| "...act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with Me." |
More About Being Humble:
The Value of Our Light
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16
Some years ago, in the State of Kansas, a blinding snow-storm was raging. The stinging winds were silently but furiously piling high the snow drifts, making the wide prairie a stretch of valleys and hills.
As the twilight grew into darkness, the blizzard steadily increased its forces until it was impossible for a wayfarer to keep a certain course. In the midst of this cold, bleak scene was a lonely little one-roomed house which had been dug out of the ground, and so was called a dugout. It was much like our outdoor cellars, the roof being about three feet from the surface of the earth. The small window at the back of the room was its only source of light. On this night a bright fire was glowing in the little stove, which sufficiently heated the small room, and in comparison with its cheerless surroundings, this little dugout bore an aspect of coziness and comfort.
A young man, George by name, was the sole occupant of this house. That very morning he had come from a town eight miles distant to ''prove up'' the claim on which it was located. Fortunately, he had furnished himself with provisions enough to keep him supplied for several days.
As this storm had been predicted, George busied himself during the early part of the day by carrying water, and by laying in fuel and such other provisions as he would need while shut in for perhaps two or three days. This done, he next stopped up the cracks and crevices which admitted the snow. This was not an easy task, for the fine, whirling flakes would insist upon entering through some opening.
Early in the afternoon a few snowflakes told of the approaching storm, and ere long the blizzard had begun in earnest. By this time George had succeeded in making himself very comfortable, and with a feeling of security he thankfully settled himself in his place of shelter.
Late in the evening George made ready to go to bed. He went to the window, where the candle was shedding its light out across the snow, and was in the act of putting it out when a low, distressed cry met his ears. With anxious interest he paused and peered out into the night, endeavoring to determine the source of the sound; but in vain. What could it be! Perhaps it was the call of a young wolf whose home was on the prairie and whose howl he had often heard during the day. But no; as he intently listened, the stillness was again broken by the same cry, which George now recognized to be the voice of a human being. Guided by George's little light, the wanderer had at last found his way to his only hope of shelter. Realizing the danger and suffering of one who was out. on such a night, George immediately answered the stranger and welcomed him into the humble but much appreciated abode.
The poor man was very numb and fatigued from the blinding, whirling snow. After putting his horse in a small shed standing near, George at once set to work making the stranger warm and comfortable, while the latter told his interesting story. He said that he, with his faithful horse, had endeavored to follow an old trail, but that as the storm became more blinding he had lost his way. He also told how his hopes for safety had been blighted just a while before. He had seen a light ahead of him, and with joy was working his way toward it as quickly as possible when, to his dismay, just as he came within calling distance, it suddenly went out, leaving him in a most fearful plight. However, he stumbled on and through the mercy of Providence finally noticed the light in George's window, which had been the means of saving him from a terrible death.
My dear young friends, we can learn a valuable lesson from this incident. We who are in the fold of the Good Shepherd, safely sheltered from the cold, sinful world, are lights to those who are still wandering outside. Our light may be small, yea, even as small as a candle; but if we diligently keep our lamp trimmed and. brightly burning, God will permit us to be the means of leading some lost one into the fold of Christ.
Under discouragement and temptation we are liable to neglect the precious light which has been committed to us. The enemy suggests to us that it matters very little, for we are so unnoticed that we will not be missed. But think of that small light out on the wide, dismal prairie seen only by the one lost man, and of the keen disappointment and bitter despair he experienced when it faded from his view. Our light may influence only one soul, but is not that one worth more to Christ than this whole world? and should it not be worth more than the world to us?
Perhaps those whom we least suspect, schoolmates, brothers, or sisters, are watching our lives with all confidence. Our faithfulness in keeping our lights shining brightly will prove to be of untold value not only to ourselves but also to those who are depending upon us.
Remember, the world is greatly in need of people, especially young people, who are lights to bring souls to Christ. Can God depend upon you? Mary Overhiser
Listener Kids "This Little Light of Mine"
The New Birth
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
It was night, perhaps midnight. The moon and stars were shedding their mellow light upon Jesus as he taught the man before him a great truth. The man was thinking deeply; for Jesus had just told him, "Ye must be born again,'' and he could not understand it.
This man was Nicodemus, a Pharisee. The Pharisees, you know, were a proud, self-righteous people. Most of them did not love Jesus nor believe what he said. Indeed, many of them even hated him for his new teachings and were jealous of him.
But this one had been thinking about Jesus' teachings and miracles, and had concluded that no one could do those things without God's help. Desiring to know more about Jesus, he decided to go to him and have a talk with him. Since he went by night, many have thought he was ashamed to go by day, lest he be seen by the other Pharisees, and so be persecuted. However that may be, he went and had a talk with Jesus.
Jesus told him plainly that he must be born again or lie could not enter the kingdom of God. This was what puzzled Nicodemus. He was a full-grown man. How could he be born again? You know people are very small when they are born of the flesh. But Jesus did not mean a fleshly birth. He meant a spiritual birth: he meant that Nicodemus must be born of the Spirit of God. Of course, Nicodemus, a large man, could not become a little child again in flesh; but he could be born of God, converted, and in spirit become as a little child -sweet, meek, and innocent. And this, Jesus said we must do. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.''
Nicodemus could not understand this. Then Jesus called his attention to the wind. It blows wherever and whenever it will. We hear the sound it makes, but can not see it coming nor going. So it is with the Spirit. We can not see the Spirit, nor can we see how people are born of the Spirit.
But we can see the effects of both. When the wind blows gently, it sways to and fro the branches on the trees and the flowers at our feet; when it blows hard, it overturns houses and even tears up trees by the roots. We can not see the wind, but we can see its works. Likewise, we can not see the Spirit, but we can see the marvelous change it makes in the lives of those who receive it. When one is born of the Spirit, he bears the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, and peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. No matter how wicked he may have been, after being born of the Spirit he will be pure, kind, and gentle.
Praise God for the new birth! Byers
What it means to be born again...
Going to Bed
Going to Bed
Dear God, I'll soon be in my
bed,
To go to sleep and rest.
And Thoughts will come into my head;
Please make them just the best.
God, send the kind of thoughts that make
Good dreams and helpful sleep,
So that to-morrow, when I wake,
I'll have Good Thoughts to keep.
And when to-morrow morning's Sun
Brings Work and Play again,
Help me to play and have some fun,
And work with might and main.
Please bless my family, and give
What's truly good and right;
And be our Friend, so we can live,
Near You, dear God. Good Night.
AMEN.
At Night
At Night
The day is done; dear God, may I
Safe in Your watchful presence
lie.
O make Your Love to live supreme
In every passing dream I dream.
May Night's kind hours come and see
How still and good a Child can be.
Then will they leave some gifts behind
To bless my body, heart, and mind.
The day is done; O dear God, spread
Your Love and Wisdom o'er my head.
Rest for my body, heart, and mind
In Sleep's great Kingdom I shall find.
Good Dreams, like faithful Friends, shall
be
A sweet and restful help to me.
Then shall another day bring light
After the blessings of to-night.
AMEN.
I do not need to wait.
I do not need to wait.
I need not wait for special times
To speak to God in prayer;
Nor do I always have to kneel
To feel that He is there.
No matter what the time or place,
I only need to be
Just full of faith that God is near,
And He will succor me.
God's love for me is not alone
In times of joy and power;
It glows with light and comfort through
Each darkened day or hour.
In times of work, or thought, or play,
Through hours of pain or care,
God lives with constant love, and hears
Each earnest wish and prayer.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Saying "No"
"Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned." James 5:12
Our news media has been having a difficult time pronouncing the names of some of the towns in Russia or Ukraine. They are long names and hard to pronounce, and the attempts that people make to say them are often very funny. But there are words in our own language that are hard to speak. One of the shortest words that we know is one of the very hardest to say sometimes. It is the little word of two letters, ''No."
Someone was telling me of a young man who had gone wrong. His parents did everything for him and gave him every advantage. The great trouble was that they had not taught him to say ''No." When temptation came to him to do what was wrong, he never had the courage to stand up and say, "No, I will not." He had learned many things but he had never learned that.
There was a little boy named Albert, and one fine summer afternoon his mother told him that he must not go swimming that day. So he made up his mind to stay around the house the rest of the day. But before long he heard the boys coming down the road, and calling out to him, "Come on. Let's go swimming. The water is fine.'' Now, Albert's mother had told him not to go, and he ought to have said, ''No, I can't go today." But just then Albert began to think about that water and the fun that the boys were going to have, and when he tried to say ''No," it seemed to stick somewhere in his throat, and wouldn't come out. The first thing he knew, he was going down the road with the boys to do what his mother had told him he must not do, and all because he hadn't been able to say "No."
We have all had times when it was hard to say that little word that seems so easy.
When an army pitches its tents for the night, sentinels are stationed all around the camp, and no one is allowed to go through those lines of sentinels, unless he is able to give the password. Do you know that there is a password to life which we must all learn, before we can enter into the larger, greater life that every boy and every girl longs for? It is the little word "No."
There are so many times in life when you need that word more than anything else in the world. When bad companions come, and they try to induce you to do what you understand is wrong, have the courage to say "No," and mean ''No." There are some people who say ''No " and do not half mean it. A little coaxing will make them say "Yes." Our text tells us what to do. "Let your nay be nay."Say ''No" and mean it, and hold to it.
Then we must say "No" when we are tempted to forget what we have been taught in Sunday school, and in our Christian homes.
Long ago there was a young man in the employ of Stephen Girard, the great Philadelphia merchant. One day Mr. Girard told him to do some work on Sunday. The young man said, "No, I am a Christian, and I promised my mother that I would not work on Sunday." Mr. Girard told him he could not keep him unless he was willing to do as he was ordered, and he was discharged.
Not very long after a man came to Mr. Girard and said, "I need a young man to fill a very responsible position in my business. Do you know of anyone? "Mr. Girard answered, ''I know just the man. I had to let him go because he would not work on Sunday. He wasn't afraid to say ''No,'' and stick to it, even when it meant the loss of his place. You will not make any mistake to take him." And so that young man found a better position than the one he had lost.
All the world honors the boy or girl who is able to say ''No."
The bravest boy is not he who fights the most. That is not real courage. A dog, or a snake, or a bear will fight bravely if he is angry enough. The highest, finest kind of courage is that of the boy who is able to say ''No" when he is tempted to do something that is wrong. He has won a battle with Satan, and that is the greatest victory that any of us can win.
Three very brave boys!
The Lion and the Bear
"Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." 1 Samuel 17:36
One of the greatest soldiers who ever lived was David. He was so strong that he could break a bow of steel with his arms, and he was so brave that he was not afraid to go and fight a giant, with nothing but a sling and a few stones.
Before he became king he had been a shepherd boy. It had been his duty to lead the sheep out to the hillside every morning and stay with them all day so that no harm would come to them, and then bring them safely back home to the fold at night.
One day a lion came to kill the sheep, and David stood between the lion and the sheep and killed the lion. At another time a bear got into the sheepfold. David took a club and killed him. These were the first battles that David fought, and they show what a brave boy he was, for it takes courage to stand up against a lion and a bear. After many years he had many other hard battles, with Goliath, and with the Philistines, and with the Syrians, but I am sure that none of these fights were quite so hard as those first ones with the lion and the bear. If he had let the lion or the bear conquer him, he never would have lived to fight with Goliath, and to be a great king.
Every boy and girl is like King David in one way. The first battles they have to fight are with the lion and the bear.
Let me tell you first about the lion. It isn't a lion in a cage such as you see when you visit a zoo. It is a lion inside of us. It is bad temper. Almost all of us have somewhere inside of us a temper that sometimes gets the better of us. You know how a lion attacks a man. He waits for his chance, and when the man isn't looking or thinking, he springs upon him. That is the way bad temper and passion come upon us. They spring upon us and get the mastery of us before we know it.
If you go to the zoo, you will see a lion shut in a strong enclosure. You are not afraid of him because he is locked in behind strong bars, deep pits and strong fencing. But if a zoo keeper should
leave that door open where he feeds the lion, and the lion should escape, then you would be afraid. That is the way with the lion of temper. He must be shut up and guarded day and night, so that he cannot hurt anyone. And if our tempers do sometimes get the mastery of us, we ought, as David did with that lion, to fight and overcome them.
Paul said, " He that overcometh his spirit is better than he that taketh a city."
Then there is the bear. We must not forget about him. David killed the bear, too. The best thing about a good little child is his gentleness. You know little bears are not gentle. They are cross and clumsy and go around making trouble wherever they are. They are very much like some little boys, who are rough and cross and ill-mannered.
They used to say that an old mother bear never lets the little bear out of the den till he has been licked into shape. Someone has said that there are hosts of fathers and mothers who let their children out into the world, before they have been made to mind, and that is why they are so ill-mannered and cruel and unkind, for all the world like little bears. David's second great fight was with the bear. One of the first things that everybody ought to do is to fight and overcome his bearishness.
Paul said in another place, "Be ye kind." Kindness is one of the best weapons with which to overcome bearishness. Some of the biggest, strongest men in the world have been the gentlest, because they knew how to be kind.
One day Abraham Lincoln was riding with one of his friends along a road in Illinois, when he stopped, jumped down from his horse, and began to feel around in the grass under a bush.
His companion said to him, ''Did you lose something, Mr. Lincoln?" ''No," he said, "I saw a little bird fall out of her nest as we passed, and I am trying to find her and put her back again."
It was little acts such as this that made him so gentle.
David, I imagine, killed the lion and the bear with a club. We can kill our lions and bears with kindness and gentleness.
Slow to Anger, giving people lots of time to change...
Behavior In Church
Long ago the great Apostle Paul wrote a letter to his young friend, Timothy, and in that letter he told him something that I wish you would all remember. It was this, "You should to behave yourself in the house of God." Fathers and mothers, these days, have to tell their children to behave when they go to church, and I imagine that the boys of Paul's time were very much as they are today, for Paul here had to tell Timothy to behave himself when he went to church.
There are a few things about the house of God we ought never to forget. The wise man, Solomon, once said, ''Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God." That means to walk softly and be reverent. I once saw a little girl tiptoeing past a house, and when I came to the house I saw that there were black ribbons and a wreath on that door. (A practice used in times of mourning for a death in the Victorian Era) She thought that God had been there, and she ought to go very softly. So we ought to also tread very softly and reverently when we enter the church. It is God's house.
Then when we go inside the church, we ought to offer up a little prayer. When you go to somebody's house and he comes to the door you always speak to him, don't you? It would not be very polite to go into someone's house without speaking to him. So when we come into God's house we must speak to Him in prayer.
Then all the time we are in the church, we must try to think about God and the things that we hear. Sometimes when we are talking to someone, we know he is thinking about something else all the time. This is very rude and we are likely to feel hurt. But it is what many people do when they come into God's house, where He is being worshiped. They spend the whole time thinking about other things than the service. I don't wonder, do you, that God is hurt and angry. God wants us when we come into His house to think about Him.
And there is one other thing that we must do in God's house. We must ask God to forgive our sins.
There is a story about a fairy who went up to the gate of heaven and was not allowed to enter. The angel said, " If you will bring the gift that is dearest to heaven, then you can come in." So the fairy flew back as fast as she could to the earth and found the most lovely and fragrant flower that there was on the earth, and brought it, but the gate was shut. Again she flew back to the earth, and this time she brought a drop of blood from a young hero, who had just died for his country; but the gate was shut still. The third time she went to the earth, and while she was wandering around, she saw a wicked old man stopping at a fountain to give his horse a drink. Just then the man saw a little child kneeling down to say his little evening prayer. When the bad man saw that, all his wicked life arose in his memory and he was sorry, and he, too, knelt and prayed, and as he prayed he wept. And the fairy, who had seen it all, caught one of those tears of repentance and flew up to heaven with it, and the gate was open, and she went in.
There is nothing that is so dear to the Lord as the repentance of His children. That is what makes Jesus, and the Bible, and the church so dear to us. They show us how to repent so that Heaven's gate may open wide for us. S. N. Hutchison
Good Manners for Kids: