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“THEY WRAPPED HIM IN SWADDLING CLOTHES AND LAID HIM IN A MANGER.”
oY?
BOYS OF THE BIBLE
A Book for the Boys of America
By THOMAS W. HANDFORD
Editor of “The Home Book of Poetry and Song,’ “The Home Instructor,” “Pleasant
Hours,” “Favorite Poems,” “Life of Beecher,’ “The Etno Series,”
“Sands of Time,” etc., etc.
Children are God’s apostles, day by day
Sent. forth to preach of love, and hope, and peace.
—Fames Russell Lowell.
In noble array, men and boys,
The matron and the maid,
Around the Saviour’s throne rejoice,
In robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heaven
Through peril, toil, and pain:
O God, to us may grace be given
To follow in their train.
—Reginald Heber.
Fully Whustrated
CHICAGO
THE WERNER COMPANY
1893
RE SEE:
COPYRIGHT
F. C. SMEDLEY & CO.
1891
DEDICATION.
TO THE BOYS OF AMERICA,
TO WHOM
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
LOOKS FOR
UPRIGHT PATRIOTIC MEN.
By cool Siloam’s shady rill
How fair the lily grows!
Flow sweet the breath, beneath the hill
Of Sharon's dewy rose!
Lo! such the child whose youthful feet
The paths of peace have trod,
Whose secret heart with infinence sweet,
Is upward turned to God.
By cool Siloam’s shady rill
The lily must decay;
The rose that blooms beneath the hill
Must shortly fade away.
And soon, too soon, the wintry hour
Of man’s maturer age
H%7ll shake the soul with sorrow's power
And stormy passtons rage.
O Thou who givest life and breath,
We seek Thy grace alone,
In childhood, manhood, age and death
To keep us still Thine own.
—REGINALD HEBER.
Il.
III.
IV.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
CONTENTS.
To the Boys of America: A Kindly Greeting - - - -
The Bible the Book for Boys - - - Ee 2
Cain and Abel—the World’s First Brothers - - - -
Ishmael the Outcast - - o - = g =
Esau and Jacob—the Twin Brothers - - - - -
Joseph—the Young Dreamer - = = - As =
Moses—the Emancipator of the Jewish Race; the Lawgiver of the
World - - - - - - - - -
Samson—the Strongest and the Weakest of the Boys of the Bible
Samuel and His Mother - - - - - -
David's Conflict with the Giant of Gath - - - -
Rizpah and the Seven Sons of Saul: A Story of a Mother’s Death-
less Love - - 56 - - - - i
Absalom—the Beautiful Rebel Prince - - - . =
Elisha and the Shunammite'’s Son - - - . =
Jeremiah and Ezekiel—the Young Prophets of Sadness and Exile -
Daniel and His Friends - - 5 a s S
The Birth and Boyhood of Jesus - - = cies aac -
The Lad with the Loaves and Fishes - - - &
Lazarus and the Sisters of Bethany - - - es 4
The Youthful Timothy - - - = . s
PAGE,
13
22
34
62
73
Ig
133
150
159
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
“They wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him ina manger” - Frontispiece
Exiled From Eden - - . s a z 5 = - 39
Cain and Abel—Martyr and Murderer - - e a - 53
“We Shall Die! We Shall Die!” - 2 EZ z a - 67
Isaac Blessing Jacob - - - - ie = es 2 79
Jacob and Rachel - - - = = a = = - 9g
Joseph Sold into Slavery - s . - e a s = 103
Joseph Interpreting Pharaoh’s Dream - - = _ . - 109
Joseph Makes Himself Known to his Brethren - - - - IIS
Moses Rescued from the Nile - - - - - - = Reet
“And he rent him as he would have rent a kid” - - - - 135
Fall of the House of Dagon - - - - - - - 145
“So Saul Died” - - - - - - - - - 173
Joab Hastens to Assassinate Absalom - - - - - - 197
“O Absalom, my son, my son!” - - _ 5 6 = 203
“The Chariot of Israel and the Horseman Thereof” - - - - 207
“Yet Forty Days and Nineveh shall be Destroyed” - - - 213
“Behold and See if there be any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow” - - 219
The Valley of Dry Bones - - - : ne 3 S 225
“Mene! Mene! Tekel! Upharsin!” - - - S a 2R8
The Fire would not Burn Them - - - - - - 239
The Wise Men and the Star - > - - - - - 259
The Journey into Egypt - - - - = = = e 269
“Tt is Finished” - - - - - 2 s 2 = 201
The Lad with the Loaves and Fishes - - - - - - 299
“Lazarus, Come Forth!” - - - - 3 a Z - 307
Timothy, his Mother and Grandmother - - e - = 313
I.
To THe Boys or America: A KInpLy GREETING.
“The angel which redecmed me fromall evil, bless the lads.”— Gemeszs xlviii., 16.
“It is better to be a boy in a green field than a knight of many orders in a state
ceremonial.’—George Macdonald.
“I long to have the children feel that there is nothing in this world more
attractive, more earnestly to be desired, than manhood in Jesus Christ.’—enry
Ward Beecher.
“They are idols of hearts and of households,
They are angels of God in disguise;
His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,
Nis glory still gleams in their eyes.
Task not a life for these dear ones,
All radiant as others have done,
But that life may have just enough shadow
To temper the glare of the sun.”
—Charles M. Dickinson.
A good many years ago—more than the writer cares to
a group of boys, five in number, were resting in the shade
tell
of a wide-spreading maple. They were very tired, for they
had been playing rather vigorously all morning. It was in the
second week of vacation—one of those hot July days when
about noon-time there comes a strange silence in the heated air,
and birds and beasts, as well as boys, are glad to seek the shel-
ter of the trees. 0
‘Well, boys,” said the oldest of the group, “do you know
Wednesday next is my birthday, and at breakfast this morn-
ing father and mother talked the matter over, and said that if
I desired to have a birthday party they were quite willing. So
13
14 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
if you will consider yourselves engaged for Wednesday next,
I shall esteem it a favor, as they say in books.”
The invitation was heartily and unanimously accepted,
and the merry group constituted themselves a committee to
arrange for the festivities of the coming day. ‘The most prom-
ising arrangements were made. Early in the morning there
was to be a fishing excursion, in the afternoon there was to be
boating on the river, and the rest of the day was to be spent in
home delights, winding up with a garden party and a grand
display of fireworks. What could be better?
The boys were so thoroughly absorbed in’ planning and
arranging that they were not at all aware of the approach of Dr.
Sutton, the oldest inhabitant of Enderby, till he stood right in
the midst of them. Not that his presence was in any way
objectionable, for Dr. Amos Sutton was one of those happy old
gentlemen whose good fortune it was to be loved and respected
by all the young people of the neighborhood. He had spent a
great many years in India as a missionary, and had many
strange stories to tell of what he had seen on the banks of the
Ganges, of the wonders of Calcutta, and of the sad, gloomy
lives of the poor Hindoos. He had been present at one of the
processions of the idol god Juggernaut, and had seen misguided
devotees throw themselves under the ponderous wheels of the
idol’s car. He had wonderful stories to tell, and he knew how
to tell them. But it was not for his Indian stories that Dr.
Sutton was so much beloved. He was venerable in years, but
he was. young in heart. His hair was white as snow, but his
sympathies and his affections were like the unfading evergreen
pine. The children all had a friend in Dr. Sutton. It was not
at all an uncommon thing to find the grand old missionary in
the very midst of the noisiest groups of children, as merry and
as jubilant as the rest. And when his friends would suggest
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 16
that the young people would weary him with their noise and
play, he was very apt to quote those happy lines of N. P.
Willis:
“T love to look on a scene like this
Of wild and careless play,
To persuade myself that I am not old,
And my locks are not yet gray.
For it stirs the blood in an old man’s heart,
And it makes his pulses fly,
To catch the thrill of a happy voice,
And the light of a pleasant eye.
Play on, play on; I am with you there,
In the midst of your merry ring,
I can feel the thrill of the daring jump
And the rush of the breathless swing.
I am willing to die when my time shall come,
And I shall be glad to go;
For the world at best is a weary place,
And my pulse is getting low.
But the grave is dark, and the heart will fail
In treading its gloomy way;
And it wiles my heart from it dreariness
To see the young so gay.”
So you may be very sure that the sudden presence of Dr.
Sutton amongst the boys was not unwelcome, though it was
just a little startling.
‘Good morning, Doctor,” said the boys with one accord,
as they looked up from their solemn conclave, for they were
as serious and earnest about this birthday party as though
they were making laws for a State.
‘“Good morning, boys,” responded the venerable gentle-
man, “I should just like to know what mischief you are
plotting. I’m sure there is something in the wind. Are you
planning to go out and fight the Indians, or has some one
fallen under your righteous displeasure? Just before a storm
16 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
there is silence in the air, and when half a dozen boys are
so quiet and mysteriously confidential with one another, that
an old man can come right upon them without being heard,
then I know there’s a storm brewing! Now boys, tell me
what it’s all about. You may trust me, I won’t betray you;
perhaps I may want to be a partner.”
Upon this the boys roared out aloud, and rolled upon
the summer grass in the perfect abandon of merriment, at
the thought of Dr. Sutton becoming a partner in some reck-
less scheme of mischief. So after binding the Doctor by
every solemn consideration not to breathe a word to saint
or sinner, the story of the birthday party was unfolded, and
you may be sure Dr. Sutton received a very hearty invita-
tion. The invitation was as heartily accepted, on condition
that he should be excused the river excursion, and should
be allowed to leave early.
For a while the Doctor lingered; he congratulated the
boys on the good record they had made at school the last
term, and after further pleasant talk, he said he had a
conundrum for them. distance,
A higher range of mountains circling round ?
Within its bosom is the holy garden,
Where first thy father waken’d up to life;
His body formed of dust from out the ground
In the image of his Maker ; lifeless until
God breathed in his nostrils breath of life,
And he became a living soul. Thy mother,
By a like miracle divine, came forth,
The workmanship of God.
How can I tell thee, child, what first we felt
When conscious of existence? All around,
And all above, beneath, seem’d full of Gop.
Gop we beheld in sun, and stars, and flowers;
In trees and plants; in birds, and beasts, and fish;
In creeping things, and light-winged insect tribes;
In living things that moved, and in those things
That could not, we beheld, as in a lake
Clear and unruffled, the full face of Gop.
Son.
Oh, how delightful, father!
FATHER.
Delightful! ah, it was indeed, my son.
But these alone made not our happiness:
Our Father in high heaven oft sent down
His holy angels as our visitants;
And often, at the close of day, we saw—
When the sun sunk behind the mountain tops
And gilded every fleecy cloud with gold-—
Descending towards us a fair troop of them,
Which looked in the distance, to our eye,
As if one of those golden-tinged clouds
Was coming to convey us on a journey
Up to the courts of heaven, On they came,
And as they near approach’d, their outspread wings,
Spangled with gems, floating on ambient air,
Shed generous perfume; and all around
Was fragrant with rich odors brought from heaven.
So days and years pass on. And the boys work and
play together, and at night say their prayers at their
48 BOYS OF TAE BIBLE.
mother’s knee. It is quite evident that Cain and Abel were:
brought up in the fear of God. Worship was as truly a
part of that early home life in the desert, as work. How-
ever imperfectly the training may have been, they were at
least trained in the nurture and fear of God.
Naturally enough, Cain became a farmer, and ‘as.
naturally Abel became a shepherd; and it is very clear that
from their earliest days these boys were taught to offer
praise and sacrifice to God; not of that which cost them
nothing, but of that which was most precious. Cain was to:
offer the first fruits of the field and Abel the firstlings of
his flocks and folds.
It is sad to think that all the trouble of this early home:
turned on the question of religious duties. We must not,,
therefore, conclude that religious duties were the causes of
this trouble. They were only the occasion of the sad
conflict. The probabilities are, that if there had been no:
religious training in that home, no religious duties to
perform, the trouble would have come much sooner, and for
anything we know, might have been much more disastrous..
The envious, wicked spirit of Cain would have found.
some excuse. And a very poor excuse is all an envious.
wicked spirit needs. Nay, it is easy for such a spirit to:
make excuses when no reasonable excuse exists.
How early in life Cain began to manifest his unhappy
disposition we are not told, but it is quite fair to conclude:
that he did not leap all at once into a murderer. Wicked-.
ness, like everything else, takes time to grow. The man
who is in the state’s prison for stealing thousands of dollars,,
did not begin by stealing thousands, or even dollars; he most
likely began by stealing dimes, or even cents. And perhaps
even then he did not really mean to steal. He meant to
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 49
put the cent or dime or dollar back again in its place. But
the ‘ meaning ”
wrong. ‘There must be a thousand wicked thoughts in the
mind; a thousand wicked feelings, a thousand cruel purposes
in the heart, before the murderer plunges the fatal knife into
the bosom of his bitterest foe, much less the bosom of his
friend or brother.
When these dark thoughts vegan to brood in the mind
of Cain, we are not told. Probably when quite a boy; for
we are thoroughly persuaded that if a boy cherishes a spirit
of kindness, and gentleness, and love, in his young days, his
manhood will be kind, and gentle, and loving too. That
poor mother in the desert had a thousand heartaches of
which no one knew but God. The fierce, resentful scowl of
Cain never escaped her. How often she sought to soothe
and calm his turbulent spirit, but all in vain. Cain was not
a gentle spirit. [He set but little value on his mother’s tears;
he had no reverence for his mother’s entreaties and prayers.
If he had lived in these days, he would have boasted that
he was not going to be tied to his mother’s ‘‘apron-strings.”
We have the most loving admiration for noble, manly,
independent boys. We do not think there is much room and
use for ‘‘ milk-sops,” in this busy world of to-day. But we
are sure of this, that the bravest, noblest, most worthy men
the world has seen in any age, are the men who have all
through life set a priceless value on their mother’s ‘apron-
is not enough, we must “do;” or all wiil go
strings.”
Years pass on, those primitive years of boyhood which
have so much to do in making up the character of the
coming man. Cain grows more and more envious, jealous,
overbearing and self-willed.
At last we reach the crisis of this history. Cain offers
50 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
his sacrifice, and Abel offers his. One is pleasing in the
sight of God, the other is not. Why this was so is not diffi-
cult to tell. All the real value of sacrifice lies in the spirit
in which it is given. The sacrifice God delights in is not
the offering that is laid upon the altar, but the spirit in
which it is given. A man who has come by his wealth in
a cruel way—and that is quite as bad, and often much worse
than a dishonest way—may give ten thousand dollars to
God’s cause by way of a religious offering, and God will not
care as much for all those thousands as he will for the five-
cent piece some poor widow, or some hard-working boy
puts on the collection plate on Sunday morning. The true
worth of all offerings is not in thé amount given, but in
the spirit of the giver. The sacrifices of God are not in
the lambs, and goats, and doves, the first fruits of flock
or field. The sacrifices of God are a lowly and a contrite
heart.
But Cain’s heart was lofty, not lowly; it was proud,
and envious, and arrogant, not contrite. And because this
spirit was in Cain, and a gentle, lowly, contrite spirit was in
Abel, therefore, and not because of the kind, or character,
or amount of either sacrifice, God had more regard to the
sacrifice of Abel than to that of Cain.
‘And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”
How simply this story is told! Cain was angry, very
angry, and his countenance fell. What a wonderful thing is
the human face! ‘Your face is like a book,” said the wicked
queen to Macbeth. A face is almost always'a good index
to the mind and heart. It may be like Stephen’s, lustrous
as ‘the face of angel,” or like Cain’s, dark as a night full of -
storm and tempest.
Be you sure the sad mother of that early home read the
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 51
dark lines on the brow of Cain, and trembled at their
meaning.
Cain was angry. This was not a case of ruffled temper
merely. He was wrath—filled with passionate, malicious
anger—but why? ‘That was just what God wanted to know.
“And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wrath?
And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt
thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth
at thy door.”
You see how God in His mercy comes to talk with Cain
—comes to reason and plead with him, as though He would
save him from himself and from the evil thing that was in
his heart.
And so God would have done, if Cain would only have
yielded his stubborn will. But Cain was masterful and per-
verse. He little thought to what an awful tragedy that
perverse spirit would lead. There was murder in his heart,
but he knew it not. We do not think of the awful possi-
bilities of evil, and how soon these possibilities may become
facts, or we should be more mindful not to give evil any
quarter. To God’s question about Cain’s unreasonable anger,
Cain makes no reply. There was no reply to make. There
is a righteous anger that may lead to noble deeds, but Cain’s
was the anger of malice, of wounded vanity, of selfishness,
and pride, and that anger leads to death.
At last came the fatal day. Cain and his unsuspecting
brother were out together in the fhelds. They had a long
talk. Ilow it begun, how it proceeded, we know not; but
how it ended forms one of the saddest pages in the world’s
early history. Cain was resolved to have it out with Abel.
But what had Abel done? There was no cause for anger
against Abel, except such cause as envious malice provided.
4
52 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
We can well imagine that Abel stood upon his defense. He
may have pointed out to his brother the true secret of his
anger, and perhaps urged him to a course more worthy of
himself, and more pleasing in the sight of God. Sometimes
if two people who have a difficulty, and talk over it, especially
if they are wisely inclined, that talk will do much to explain
and do away with the difficulty. Sometimes talking over a
quarrel makes the trouble worse. So it was in this case. The —
fire of Cain’s passion burned to fury, and in a moment of
supreme hatred he rose against his brother Abel and slew
~ him. ;
In that sad, awful hour, the world’s first brothers became
martyr and murderer!
- What an awful day was that for all concerned! The
victim-martyr suffered least of all. He saw the morning
rise in beauty; he saw the noontide blaze in splendor; but
when the night fell in awful darkness on that terrible home,
Abel was at rest beyond the stars. From his sheep-folds
and the altar of sacrifice he had gone to dwell. forever in
that fairer land, where
“ Beyond earth’s angry voices
There is peace!”
Think of that broken-hearted mother when the news
came to her. For we cannot but believe that the news soon
reached her, and that she went forth to the scene of the
tragedy. What a sad, wild, awful cry shook the silence of
that desert home! And when she found her latest-born, his
flowing hair all dabbled in his blood, dead!—dead, by. his
brother’s hand—her agony would be terrible to behold. Her
fair, her beautiful Abel, slaughtered by the hand of Cain, who
should have been the young man’s boldest defender, not his
cowardly, cruel murderer! When her. eyes met this awful
53
CAIN AND ABEL—MARTYR AND MURDERER,
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 55
sight, do we wonder that she should fall prone upon the life-
less boy, and, kissing his cold lips, moan and moan, begging
her Abel to speak to her just once again! The thought of
all this is terrible, but not a thousandth part as terrible as
the reality.
So, boys, we have this picture to look upon and think
about. The world’s first mother, broken-hearted and bereaved,
all through the waywardness and envy of her first-born son.
God only knows what a comfort a boy may be to his
mother.
Original
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 175
dren; its eyes are blind to all sorrows, though they are the
sorrows of the weak and the helpless. In all his cruel wars
Saul accomplished nothing more shameless and uncalled for
than the massacre of Gibeon and its confederate towns. Men,
women and children were put to the sword in blind, wicked
fury. The city of Nob had been destroyed and four score
and five harmless priests of the temple had been slain in cold
blood. Saul intended to make Gibeon the seat of national
worship, and it may be that the Gibeonites opposed his plan.
But this was no reason for putting them to a shameful death.
It is true, as we have seen, that they were the descendants
of the Canaanites, but they were under the sheltering care
of Israel, and the services they and their predecessors had
rendered the land, surely gave them the right of protection
from such cruel treatment. Saul was a man of blood; he
loved the sword, and was destined to die by the sword, but
after the most shameful and humiliating manner. An awful
battle waged about the slopes of Gilboa. But the end of Saul
was dark and tragical. We read in the book of Samuel:
“And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit
him and he was sore wounded of the archers.” But Saul
was not slain by the arrows of the archers. He died by his
own hand! The first King of Israel ended his brilliant career
a royal suicide! ‘Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer,
Draw thy sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me.
But his armor-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid: there-
fore Saul took a sword and fell upon it. . . . , So Saul
died! . . . And it came to pass on the morrow when
the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul
and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. And they cut off
his head and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land
176 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of
their idols and among their people. And they put his armor
in the house of Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the
wall of Beth-shan.” .
Could anything be more humiliating? Israel’s heart was
broken. For in the fall of Saul all the land had fallen—in
Saul’s disgrace all Israel was disgraced. There are not many
passages in all the scriptures more tender and beautiful than
David’s lament over Saul and over Jonathan his son:—
“Tell it not in Gath!
Publish it not in the streets of Askelon!
Lest the daughter of the Philistine’s rejoice,
Lest the daughter of the uncircumcised triumph!
Ye mountains of Gilboa,
Let there be no dew, neither let there be any rain upon you,
Nor fields of offerings:
For here the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away:
The shield of Saul;
As though he had not been anointed with oil.
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet with other delights;
Who put on ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen?
And the weapons of war perished.”
Nearly a generation had passed since the death of Saul,
and the Gibeonites had resumed somewhat of their former
position. But we may be sure they had not forgotten the
wrongs Saul had inflicted upon their fathers. There were
probably many living who had shared in the terrors of that
awful massacre. What tales of horror they would have to
tell! They were a singing people, and would probably throw
into the shape of ballad, or song, or poem, the record of
their wrongs. Anyway, a bitter and vengeful spirit was
kept alive in the hearts of these Gibeonites for all the sur-
vivors of the house of Saul. .
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 177
The story with which we are most concerned opens in the
spring of the year. There had been three years without
any rain. The fields were brown and bare; the rivers ran
dry, and the springs began to fail. In these days of drought
David, the King, called upon the Lord. As some say, “he
consulted the oracle,” though what that means we hardly know.
In whatever way David sought to know the causes of this
awful drought, this was the answer he got:
“Tt is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew
the Gibeonites.”
David immediately called the Gibeonites together to see
what could be done to appease the anger of these people.
He was perfectly willing to do anything in reason. If they had
demanded flocks and herds, David would have sent flocks
and herds into their valleys; if they had asked for cedars
from Lebanon, or for gold and silver from the mines, their
desires would have been cheerfully complied with. But they
would have blood! But blood would do them no good. It
would not give them back their dead ones. It would heal
no wounds, comfort no sorrows—it would only satisfy their
vengeance! That was what they desired more than anything
beside.
The Gibeonites had but one answer—an answer as
cruel and relentless as the cruel deed of Saul. They said:
“We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his
house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.”
We do not quite understand how it was, but it seems
as if David had no alternative but to let this outraged
people have their own way. We cannot measure these war-
like times with our happy days of peace. An age under the
mastery and control of the dark spirit of war, is an age full
of cruelties, as unreasonable as they are unjust. It seems as if
178 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
David was almost entirely in the hands of these Gibeonites, and
that he had to give them pretty much what they asked, for
he practically promised to give them whatsoever . they
requested. These were his words: i
‘“What ye shall say, that will I do for you.”
Then came their bloodthirsty, vengeful request—a
request in which there was nothing to be gained but fuel
and blood for their fires of vengeance.
‘“And they answered the King, the man that consumed
us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed
from remaining in. any of the coasts of Israel, let seven
men of his sons be delivered unto us and we will hang
them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord
did choose.”
What a pathetic scene is presented here! The King,
grown old and bowed with many sorrows, stands pleading with
these Gibeonites to take silver or gold or any precious thing,
that the land may once again enjoy the blessings of the gentle
rain; that the hillsides may once more bloom in beauty, and
the fields be rich with waving corn. But these men will have
blood! It was an awful request, but there was no help for it.
And David bowed his head and said, “I will give them.”
It should be said, not in defense, but somewhat in explana-
tion of these Gibeonites, that they probably regarded them-
selves as having the honor of their race in charge. Remember
it was a warlike age. The footsteps of the messengers of
peace had not yet been heard upon the mountain slopes; and
it is almost certain that these men of Gibeah would have
regarded themselves as the most contemptible of cowards if
they had left the wrongs of their fathers unavenged. With
them vengeance was regarded, no doubt, as a rude form of
justice. ‘To sweep the last remnant of the house of Saul from
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 179
the face of the earth was the only thing that would give them
any sort of satisfaction.
David delivered the sons of Saul into the hands of the
Gibeonites. Of these seven ‘‘sons” of Saul, two of them were
sons and five of them were grandsons. Armoni and Mephi-
bosheth were the sons of Saul and Rizpah; the other five
were the sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, and were,
therefore, the grandsons of the dead King, and nephews of
Armoni and Mephibosheth, the sons of Saul and Rizpah.
These seven were supposed to compose all that were left of
the bloody house of Saul.
The story grows sadder as it proceeds. If the Gibeonites
had taken these two young men and these five boys and put
them to death, and buried them out of sight, there would have
been some show of mercy in their conduct. These young
men had had no hand in the murder of their fathers. The
sons of Saul were as innocent as you or I of any share in
the cruel slaughter of the Gibeonites. But the old, hard, sad
law comes into force. The sins of Saul are to be visited on
his sons and grandsons. And now these Gibeonites are resolved
to surround this destruction of the remnant of the house of Saul
with all possible cruelty, indignity, and shame. They might
have done their sad work quickly, and have hidden their vic-
tims in some secret grave. But no; this would have had a
touch of mercy in it, and what mercy had Saul shown to
their fathers and friends?
They resolved upon the most torturing of all modes of
execution—the mode of crucifixion. This cruel way of putting
people to death had been common among the Egyptians and
the older nations of antiquity, and it long continued in use
_for no other reason than because it was the most cruel death,
and was supposed to have attached to it the greatest possible
180 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
degradation. ‘The death of the cross was the death of cruelty
and the death of shame.
That crucifixion was a death of lingering agony and
torture, and that it was the form of death reserved for
criminals and outcasts, just suited the vengeful mood of these
implacable Gibeonites. ‘The bitterness of the cup they were
pressing to the lips of their hapless victims, was the very
sweetness of honey to their taste. They revelled in the
thought of the agonies the sons of Saul would suffer, and
found especial joy in the fact that they were about to drag
these princes of a fallen house to the cross of shame, to the
degradation generally reserved for criminals and murderers
and thieves.
The place selected for the execution gives us another
hint of the cruel purposes of the Gibeonites. No detail was
to be omitted that would add to the pangs and sorrows of
the doomed princes; so Gibeah of Saul was chosen. The
city Saul intended to make the permanent seat of national
worship; the city from whence the Gibeonites had been
driven in Saul’s mad rage, was the place of all places most
suitable for the final extinction of the last remnant of Saul’s
warlike house. It was like bringing boys home to be
hanged; it was like rearing the scaffold under the shadow
of the house—like turning the roof-tree into the gallows.
One other thing only was needed to make the shame of
this slaughter complete; that too was added. The crucified
forms of these guiltless youths were to hang unburied, to be
the scorn of every passer-by, till at last the vultures and
the jackals should pick all the flesh from their bones and
they should be left dangling skeletons on the hill of Gibeah.
This was the crowning shame.
It was thus that, a little more than a hundred years
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 181
ago—in England especially—-the sentence passed upon the
foulest criminals was that they should be “hung and
gibbetted.” There are some venerable people living to-day,
who can faintly remember some of these horrible scenes,
where, high on the gallows-tree, the bleached bones of
criminals swayed to and from the gibbet-post, thousands of
people coming from far and near to look upon the ghastly
sight.
How ancient Israel looked upon this disgrace of leaving
the bodies of the dead to be the prey of vultures and
jackals, may be gathered from this sad strain from one of
the psalms of Asaph—
“O God, the heathen are come into thine
inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead
bodies of thy servants have they given to be
meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of
thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
“Their blood have they shed like water
round about Jerusalem; and there was none to
bury them. We are become a reproach to our
neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are
round about us.”
Let us turn our attention again to Gibeah’s sad moun-
tain. The terrible execution has taken place. Beside the altar
on the hill-top of Saul’s own village swing the lifeless forms
of Saul’s sons and grandsons —butchered to satisfy a cruel and
unholy vengeance, and to expiate the wrongs he had done a
generation before.
We may well pause a moment here to learn a lesson—a
lesson both for boys and men, a lesson for all time. The easiest
way to get at the lesson will be by asking one or two
questions.
Now that these Gibeonites were avenged, what better
182 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
were they? Would life be brighter and gladder for them
because they had brought these princes to a shameful, cruel
death?
Would the ghastly vision on Gibeah’s hill be a pleasant
memory in after years? Would they tell their children and
their grandchildren of this shameful slaughter as a thing to
be proud of?
We know how natural it is, if we have been wronged,
to resolve in the hour of our anger that we will “be even” with
those who have wronged us. And perhaps we have some-
times waited long and patiently to “get even” with our
adversaries. But what joy ever came to us in getting even?
Did the sufferings of our foes ever fill our hearts with glad-
ness? If so, our hearts must have been cold, and pitiless,
and cruel. This gracious book, so full of charming stories,
is also full of lessons of tenderness and love, and teaches us
to love our enemies, and to do good to those who spitefully
use us. Perhaps you will say that this is a very hard lesson
to learn. So it is. All good lessons are hard to learn. The
more important the lesson, the harder it is to learn. Let a
boy start out in life resolved to follow the law of kindness,
and he will have very little trouble with enemies. Let him
be kind even to those who are unkind to him, and he will
soon hunt in vain for enemies, while his friends will increase
on every hand. Hatred to enemies only strengthens their
enmity, while a kind word or a generous deed will often
change an enemy into a fast and faithful friend.
But now a sight both sad and strange appears on this
sad hill of Gibeah. The execution is over—the sons of Saul
are dead. It is at this point that Rizpah, the mother of two
of these young men, and the friend of all the rest, appears
upon the scene. She was almost certainly a woman well on
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 183
in years, for her two sons had grown up to early manhood.
How tenderly she had loved them through all their early
years may best be gathered from the motherly devotion she
now displays.
Rizpah had been accustomed to the dignity and grandeur
of a queen. But see her: now—weary, widowed, childless,
and heart-sore—toiling up the hill of Gibeah, dragging along
with her a rude sackcloth mattress that is to serve the pur-
pose of a bed, or to be used betimes to sweep away the
birds of prey that would soon begin to hover round the
swaying bodies of the dead. |
For what purpose had this broken-hearted mother come
to this sad place? Surely it was not to feed her anguish
by gazing on the blanched faces of her dead sons! Would it
not have been better if she had kept away from this dread-
ful sight? So perhaps we may think. But Rizpah was a
woman of firm, grand purposes. She had not come to sat-
isfy a morbid, mournful spirit; she had come to guard her
dead. The worst was over. The Gibeonites had had their
revenge, and now Rizpah had her dead. Before the sun set on
that day of crucifixion she had established herself as the
guardian of the dead bodies of her sons and their young
comrades.
It was the beginning of the barley harvest when her
strange vigil began. That. would be about the end of April
or at latest, the beginning of May, and she kept her watch
unbroken through the hot months of summer, night and day,
till the rains of October began to fall. She vowed a solemn
vow that no beak of vulture and no fang of jackal should dese-
crate the bodies of her murdered sons, And faithfully she kept
her vow. By day she swept the wild birds from their prey
with the sackcloth she had brought, and by night she kept the
184 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
fires burning that scared the jackals from the scene. Think of
this, boys! Think of this grand mother of the ancient time,
who kept watch not for a day, or for a week, but for
months! Here was as glorious an example of motherly
devotion as the old world ever saw. Months of watching!
months of loneliness! months of heartache!—all for love
of the dead. What memories would come back to her of
the early, happy days, when Armoni and Mephibosheth were
boys, as she sat watching the huge cross all through those
long, hot summer days! She lived over again the days of their
childhood; heard again their young voices making the hills and
valleys echo with merriment and song; saw them once again at
their gambols and play; watched them growing up through
youth to early manhood—her brave, fair, noble sons! And
now she lifted her eyes and saw their bodies hanging from
the cross of shame; or perchance at night, after having
stolen from the dark hours a brief, fitful sleep, she would
start as from some horrid dream, and looking up would see in
the baleful glare of the watchfires a reality sadder than her
saddest dreams. ‘The suffering Saviour had His brow girt
with a crown of thorns, Rizpah’s brow was girt with a
crown of sorrows. One of our great modern poets says:
“A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.”
If this be so, Rizpah, the widowed, childless mother,
who kept her sad vigil on the heights of Gibeah, must have
been a very queen of sorrows. No wonder that the early
writers on the Old Testament Scriptures should apply to
Rizpah the title of the ancient “mother of sorrows”; a title
applied almost exclusively, in later days, to the Mother of
our Lord.
When the rains of October began to fall and the harvest
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 185
was all gathered in, Rizpah’s long vigil came to an end.
The King heard of her fidelity and devotion, and resolved
upon the honorable burial of the whole house of Saul. He
took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan, his son,
from the men of Jabesh-Gilead, who had stolen them from
the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged
them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa. So the
bones of Saul and Jonathan, and of the seven sons who were
crucified, were all gathered together and.were buried in the
country of Benjamin in Zelah in the sepulchre of Kish, the
father of Saul. :
So ends this sad romance. What came of Rizpah we
are not told. Like many other Scripture characters, she
passes forever from the sacred page when her work is done.
Surely that weary heart found rest when the bones of her
beloved received at last honorable sepulture in the tomb of
Kish, in Benjamin in Zelah! Wer work was done ‘There
were no more sad vigils for her to keep. We think of her
moving slowly and silently, but not reluctantly, to her grave.
Through those long summer months she had presented a
sublime protest against the cruel spirit of her age. By that
weary watch on Gibeah’s height Rizpah built herself an ever-
lasting name, and set the world an example of enduring,
deathless love.
If ever, in the wanderings and discoveries of coming
years, the grave of this ancient Jewish mother should be found,
it would be a shrine well worth a pilgrimage to visit, not
because Rizpah had known the dignities and honors of a
Queen, but because by rare enduring love she made the
name of “mother” glorious. If an epitaph should be de-
sired in which to embalm her memory, what could be better
than this?—
11 ;
186 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
RIZPAH:
THe Jewish MOTHER,
Wuose Love was STRONGER THAN DEATH.
It will not have been in vain, boys, that your attention
has been called to this romantic by-way story of the Bible, if
it should only result in deepening your gratitude for that great
benediction of heaven—a mother’s love. We have pity for
these crucified sons of Saul; but for their illustrious mother
we have reverence and homage.
Oh, the mothers! the mothers! the mothers! What are
all the great deeds men have wrought in the world compared
with the self-sacrificing tenderness of its mothers! The world
owes more to its gentle mothers than to all its valiant men.
In truth, it is the gentleness of the mothers that have made
the men great and strong. It is hardly possible to open a
book of biography of any great man without finding very
early in its pages some grateful, tender tribute to a mother’s
love and care. We have already quoted the words of Abraham
Lincoln concerning his mother, and when we remember how
much America and the world owes to that great patriot, we
can understand how much the world owes to Lincoln’s mother.
There was not one of all the four million slaves, whose fetters
fell when the music of Lincoln’s Proclamation was heard, but
owed a debt of gratitude to Lincoln’s mother. And of all
the wise, honorable words the great Emancipator left on record,
few are more precious, few more worthy of being remembered
and treasured, than these: “All that Iam, or hope to be, I owe
to my angel mother—blessings on her memory.”
A century and a half ago there was born in a quiet little
village, in the south of England, a boy named William Cowper.
He lived to be a much-admired poet. He was not, perhaps,
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 187
a very great poet, but he has written much that will be
remembered as long as poetry sways any influence on the
human mind. Cowper’s mother died when he was a child,
and when the poet had grown to middle life, a cousin of his
—Ann Bodham by name—sent him a portrait of his mother.
_ The poem Cowper wrote on the receipt of his mother’s picture
is one of the most beautiful poems that came from his busy
pen. Every boy should read and study that poem. We have
only space for just a few lines. They, however, will probably
be quite sufficient to inspire boys who love their mothers to
read the whole poem. Gazing on the faithful portrait of his
sainted mother, Cowper says:
O that those lips had language! Life has passed
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Those lips are thine—thy own sweet smile I see,
The same that oft in childhood solaced me;
Voice only fails, else how distinct they say,
“Grieve not, my child, chase all thy fears away!’
The meek intelligence of those dear eyes—
Blest be the art that can immortalize;
The art that baffles time’s tyrannic claim
To quench it—here shines on me still the same.
* * * *
My mother! When I learned that thou wast dead
Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?
Hovered thy spirit o’er thy sorrowing son,
Wretch even then, life’s journey just begun.
Perhaps thou gavest me, though unfelt, a kiss;
Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss—
Ah, that maternal smile it answers—Yes.
* * * Es
Where thou art gone,
Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown.
May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore,
The parting word shall pass my lips no more.
* * * *
My boast is not that I deduce my birth
From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth;
But higher far my proud pretensions rise—
The son ot parents pass’d into the skies ”
188 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Not patriots and poets alone, but all good men and
true are ever ready to declare that the debt of gratitude
they owe their mother is high as heaven, deeper than the
grave and as lasting as the years of life.
A mother’s love is born with the first breath of the
life she gives, and when the need of her child is the sorest,
then is her love the deepest and strongest. When the tyrant
of Egypt decreed the death of all the young Hebrew boys,
then the Hebrew mothers rose to the occasion and hid their
boys from danger. We may be very sure that Jochebed
was not the only mother who sheltered her smiling Moses
from the threatened doom. When Herod sent forth his
cruel edict for the slaughter of the innocents, we hear noth-
ing of the men, the fathers who should have defended their
children with their lives; but we hear the wail of the broken-
hearted mothers: ‘Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: In Rama _ there
was a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not
be comforted because they are not.” The day of the child’s
danger is the day when the mother’s love grows strong.
And if the grave should close over son or daughter, child
or youth; then the mother’s love blossoms into more sacred
beauty. All the world over, there are thousands of mothers
who having reared their children only to see them fade
from their vision, have now only the melancholy joy of
keeping, like Rizpah of old, sad vigil by the graves of
their dead. Many mothers who are rich chiefly in graves,
have no deeper joy in life than to pay constant visits to the
graves of their departed, to trim the cypress and keep the
myrtle green. Our annual Decoration Day is a great day
for the Rizpahs of this later age; then all over the land from
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 189
sea to sea, on the mountain sides and in the valleys, ten
thousand graves are made beautiful with flowers, and are
watered with affection’s tears.
But we must not forget how the mothers in multitudes
are watching, tearfully, prayerfully, constantly, the . living as
well as the dead. God only knows what numberless vigils
are kept for the living by anxious mothers. Often, half way
through the night, mothers lie sleepless and sad, thinking of
the boys away from home. Many a mother’s heart is beat-
ing and breaking at the same time, as she thinks of her
absent boys. ‘ Where is my boy to-night?” is a question
that forces itself unbidden to the blanched lips of many a
mournful mother; and many and earnest are the prayers that
rise that God will guide the footsteps of her absent ones into
the paths of piety and peace. There is no waking hour in
a mother’s life when the interest and happiness of her sons
and daughters do not constitute her chief anxiety, her dear-
est care.
Boys, there is no love like a mother’s. Cherish it, honor
it, for it will be the joy of your youth, the strength of your
manhood, and the most sacred memory of growing years.
There is no love like God’s love, unless it be a mother’s.
Some men looking backward through the march of years,
remembering their mothers, are ready to confess that if God
will but love them as their mothers did, they have nothing
to fear.
And when the. dark days come to you, as come they
will sooner or later, for sorrow comes to all; when the sad
time of silence comes, when the voice of your mother speaks
to you no more; when the world grows dull for want of
her presence, and dark for want of her smile, may the ever-
lasting arms encompass you with such tenderness, that you
190 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
shall fecl in the deepest gloom of your sorrow, ‘‘as one whom
his mother comforteth.”
In closing this romantic story of Rizpah and her patient
vigil on Gibeah’s hill, the tender words John Quincy Adams
—one of America’s earliest and greatest statesmen—spoke
concerning his revered mother, seems an appropriate quota-
tion:
“My mother was an angel upon earth. She was a min-
ister of blessing to all human beings within her sphere of
action. Her heart was the abode of heavenly purity. She
had no feelings but of kindness and benevolence, yet her mind
was as firm as her temper was mild and gentle. She had
known sorrow, but her sorrow was silent. She was acquainted
with grief, but it was deposited in her own bosom. She was
the real personification of female virtue—of piety, of char-
ity, of ever-active, never intermitting benevolence. O God,
could she have been spared yet a little longer! My lot in life
has been almost always cast at a distance from her. I have
enjoyed but for short seasons and at long, distant intervals
the happiness of her society, yet she has been to me more
than a mother. She has been a spirit from above, watching
over me for good, and contributing by my mere conscious-
ness of her existence to the comfort of my life. That con-
sciousness is gone, and without her the world feels to me
like a solitude.”
XII.
ABSALOM—THE BEAUTIFUL REBEL PRINCE.
“Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son! my son!”—//, Samuel
tL. PF.
Life is 2 leaf of paper white,
Whereon each one of us may write
His word or two, and then cores night;
Though thou have time
But for a line, be that sublime;
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
—Fames Russell Lowell,
I live for those who love me,
For those I know are true.
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.
I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the wrong that needs resistance
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.
—A nonymous.
It may seem strange, and somewhat contradictory, to say
that Absalom’s misfortunes sprung mainly from his fortunes;
but the saying is nevertheless true. The same thing is true
of thousands of boys who have gone wrong, and through
191
192 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
pride and wickedness have marred and ruined a life that
might have been exceedingly beautiful. Boys are apt to think
that it would be a grand thing to have nothing to do—no
school to attend, no lessons to learn, no books to read, and
plenty of money to spend. That would be fortunate, indeed!
The truth is that nothing would be more unfortunate than
such a state of things. Thousands of young men in America
to-day are being ruined by having too much money, too
much idle time on their hands, and too little to do.
Most of the princes of this world, both in ancient and
modern times, have found their too fortunate position full of
temptation, and very few of them have had the grace to
resist the mischief and meanness that Satan always finds for
“idle hands to do.”
It was so with Absalom. He was gifted, beautiful,
petted and spoiled. He was surrounded by a set of miserable
flatterers, who would not have crossed the street to speak to
him if he had not been a prince; but because he was a prince
they praised him, and would have kissed the ground he
walked on, with the hope that his favor might be useful
some coming day. All this turned the. head of the fair-haired
boy, and, as we shall see, wrecked his whole life. We see
the gallant young vessel of Absalom’s life leaving the sunny .
harbor of youth, with pennons flying and every sail filled
with promising breezes; all too soon we shall see that fair
vessel a ruined hulk—sails torn, masts gone, cable slipped,
anchor broken, cordage all atangle—a complete wreck; and
all because pride and folly and wicked ambitions stood at
the helm.
Absalom was very beautiful. As a child he must have at-
tracted much attention. As he grew older, he was regarded as
one of the handsomest boys in all Palestine. The Bible says:
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 193:
‘In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as
Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot, even to
the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.”
Absalom had a wonderful head of hair. As he walked
abroad, its long thick sweeping locks swayed to and fro, and
at the distance his tossing curls looked “like a flock of
goats on Mount Gilead.” No poet ever wrote a poem on
Absalom’s gentleness, or his filial loyalty, or his brotherly
love; but many poems were written on that very remarkable
head of hair. Absalom was obliged to have his hair cut once
a year. It grew so much, and got so heavy, that it made
his head ache terribly. When the barber cut his hair,
nothing pleased the vain young prince so much as to have what
was cut off weighed. Sometimes the barber would cut off
as much as would weigh from five to six pounds—enough, as
one writer says, to have made a comfortable head of hair
each for at least forty people. It was a wonderful head of
hair, and dearly Absalom paid for it.
Poor Absalom! It was his great misfortune to be a
beautiful prince! It would have been a thousand times bet-
ter for him if he had not been so beautiful. Better—much
better—if his lot had been cast amongst the lowly. He
would have been happier far, if he had been a simple shep-
herd boy, or had been kept busy from radiant morning till
dewy eve, tending vineyards and trimming vines.
He was a great favorite with his father from his child-
hood, though he almost broke his father’s heart. Very
early in his life he took up a quarrel in which his brother
Ammon was concerned, and after nursing his anger in secret,
for two whole years, he invited all the family to a sheep-shear-
ing feast at Baal-hagor. His father David excused himself, and
so was spared the sight of the tragedy that followed. When
194 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
the feast was at its height, the servants of Absalom, at the
command of their princely master, rose and slew the unsus-
pecting Ammon. All was consternation and terror, and every
man saddled his ass and hastened to Jerusalem. Exaggerated
news reached the King. He thought there had been a whole-
sale slaughter of all his family.
“Then the King arose, and tore his garments and lay
upon the earth; and all his servants stood by with their
clothes rent.”
This deed of murder done, Absalom escapes, and for
five years is an exile from the land where his father reigns
as King.
At last Absalom returns and is forgiven. But there was
no filial love in the heart of the young prince; he was eaten
up of vanity and self-conceit. He began to ride about Jeru-
salem in grand style, and had fifty men to run before his
chariot, so that all the people might be impressed with the
idea of his greatness. And now the broad way begins to
broaden. Vanity has become the master spirit of his life.
Rebellion, the worst kind of rebellion—rebellion against his
King and against his father—this evil spirit that was at once
unpatriotic and unfilial, made its nest in his young heart. The
' flatterers who gathered round him were his worst enemies, as
well as the worst enemies of the state. This young prince got
wrong in the first place by yielding to his pride and self-
esteem, and in the next place he selected the worst possible
men for his companions and advisers that could have been
found in the whole length and breadth of the land. All the
histories of all the princes the world has ever seen serve to
confirm this truth—that there are very few things about
which boys ought to be more careful than the selection of
their companions. Absalom trusted in Joab, but Joab was
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 195
worse than a broken reed. The hand that pretended a desire
to lead Absalom to the throne of David, his father, was the
hand of an assassin.
Absalom’s revolt against the crown and throne of David,
his father, grew apace, but it grew in secret. The young
prince began now to descend to all the meanness and trick-
ery of the modern professional politician. Nothing was too
low for him to do; he would have kissed any dirty voter
who would give him a vote—supposing there had been
voting in those days—and worse than that, to gain the
throne and possess the power of kingship, he was willing to
wade knee-deep in the blood of his royal father. Let us
hear what the Bible tells us about the mean, unfilial treach-
ery of this beautiful prince.
“And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way
of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a
controversy came to the King for judgment, then Absalom
called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? And he
said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And
Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right;
but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee.
‘Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in
the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might
come unto me, and I would do him justice! And it was
so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obei-
sance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.
“ And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came
to the King for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of
the men of Israel.”
Did you mark that last impressive line? “So Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” Stole! He who steals
money is a poor, miserable thief! But what is to be said of
196 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
the petted, favored, son who tramples upon his father’s dignity’
and honor, and steals the hearts of his loyal people? Oh,
shameless, heartless, unfilial thief!
And now lying follows fast on other forms of evil, in.
this sad revolt. Absalom went to the King and said, I pray
thee let me go to Hebron, and pay my vow to the Lord.
He pretended that he had made a vow to offer up a sacri-
fice at Hebron, and that now he wanted to go there and do
it. And the King told him he might go, so he arose and
went.
But it was not to serve the Lord that he went; it was:
to have himself made King instead of his father. Therefore,
he sent spies through all the land to persuade the people to
put his father away, and make him King. And the spies.
told the people that, on a certain day, as soon as they
should hear the sound of the trumpets which Absalom’s
friends would blow, they should cry out, Absalom is King in.
Hebron! He took two hnndred men with him out of Jeru-
salem to help him, and sent also for a great man, named
Ahithophel, who was David’s counsellor, or adviser. And.
Ahithophel and many of the people went with him.
And there came a messenger to David, and told him
how the men of Israel were going after Absalom. Then
David was afraid, and said to his servants, Arise, and let
us flee; make haste and go, for fear Absalom may come
suddenly and fight against the city with the sword.
His servants answered, We are ready to do whatever
the King shall command. And the King fled in haste out of
Jerusalem, he and his servants, and many of the people of
the city, and they passed over the brook Kedron and went
up toward the wilderness.
Think of this warrior King, fleeing from his throne, from.
ToAB HASTENS TO ASSASSINATE ABSALOM. 197
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. : 199
this own royal city, over mountain and crag and fell, away
from his own son! ‘This King—whom lions and bears could
not frighten when a boy!—this King, who with sling and
-stone, overcame the giant of Gath!—running away like a
coward from Absalom!
But Absalom, as soon as he had gathered his army
together, made haste to follow after his father. Then David
counted the men who were with him, and set captains over
them; Joab, he made the chief captain. And David said, I
‘will surely go with you myself also, to the battle. But the
‘men answered, Thou shalt not go with us, for they will care
‘more to take thee, than they will to take all the rest who
‘shall go out against them. David said, Whatever seems best
to you I will do: so he stayed in the city of Mahanaim,
where he and his people had come.
And he stood by the gate of the city while his men
were going out to fight; as they passed by him, he spoke
to all the captains, saying, ‘‘Deal gently, for my sake, with
the young man, even with Absalom.”
So the people went out, and the battle was in a wood.
And God gave David’s army the victory, for they slew of
Absalom’s army twenty thousand men.
The revolt that promised so much in the morning was
turned to asad defeat before the set of sun. That battle in
the wood of Ephraim turned the tide against the young traitor
prince. In the wild confusion and dismay, Absalom rides
hither and thither amongst the dying and the dead, and
‘sweeping along under the underlacing boughs of a huge over-
hanging terebuith tree, his long, flowing hair—so long his
pride—caught in the branches. His mule swept from under
him, and there he hung, swaying between heaven and earth!
At this moment the treacherous Joab appeared with his
200 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
handful of arrows, and he thrust three of them “through the
heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the oak. Absalom
did not come to his death by his long hair, but that long hair
held him in such a position that it was easy for his professed
friend Joab to perfect his dastardly work of assassination.
So the life that began in the midst of such promise and
beauty ends in revolt and treachery and a shameful death!
Absalom had built a pillar in the King’s Dale, which he
proposed should serve as his monument, but the children of
Israel who stood faithfully by the grand old King provided
another monument or memorial. They threw the body of
Absalom in a pit and covered him with stones, and it was
expected that whosoever passed by would throw a stone in,
as a token of scorn and reproach. ‘That pit of shame in the
wood of Ephraim, and not the stately pillar in the King’s
Dale, was the true memorial of Absalom.
We have spoken often in these pages of the priceless
treasure of a mother’s love. This story tells of a father’s
anguish over his wayward son. There is not a scene in the
whole Bible more pathetic than this scene where the broken-
hearted King mourns for his wayward Absalom.
Hear how he pleads with the captains and generals as
they start forth to the battle:
“Deal gently for my sake, with the young man, even
_ with Absalom!”
And, as the battle waged from morning until night, David
stood on the high tower over the gate of Mahanaim to watch
for those who should bring the tidings of the battle. As the
day declined, messengers began to appear in the distance. At
last Ahimaaz drew near.
“And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the King, ‘All is
well.’ And he fell down to the earth upon his face before
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 201
the King, and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord thy God, which
hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against
my lord the King.’
“And the Kane said, ‘Is the young man Absalom safe?’
And Ahimaaz answered, ‘When Joab sent the King’s servant,
and me Le servant, I saw a great tumult, but I sn not
what it was.’
“And the King said unto him, ‘Turn aside, and stand
here.’ And he turned aside, and stood still. And behold,
Cushi came; and Cushi said, ‘Tidings, my lord the King:
for the lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose
up against thee.’
“And the King said unto Cushi, ‘Is the young man
Absalom safe?’ And Cushi answered, ‘The enemies of my
lord the King, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt,
be as that young man is.’
“And the King was much moved, and went up to his
chamber over the gate and wept; and as he went thus he
said:
“*Q my son, Absalom!
My son, my son, Absalom!
Would God I had died for thee,
O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Whenever this pathetic scene presents itself to your
thought, think of those other words of David recorded in the
book of Psalms:
‘‘Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him.”
The happiest effort of our honored poet N. P. Willis, in
portraying Scripture scenes, is his poem on David's “Lament
for Absalom.” Mr. Willis has used a poet’s freedom in
imagining that the dead body of Absalom was brought to
Mahanaim, or to Jerusalem to lie in state. Of this there is no
202 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
record, but the poem is so true to the inner heart of the
King’s grief that criticism on that point is silent; and with
this elegy of sorrow, we close our story of the Rebel Prince.
The waters slept. Night’s silvery veil hung low
On Jordan’s bosom, and the eddies ‘curled
Their glassy rings beneath it, like the still,
Unbroken beating of the sleeper’s pulse.
The reeds bend down the stream; the willow leaves
With a soft cheek upon the lulling tide,
Forgot the lifting winds: and the long stems
Whose flowers the water, like a gentle nurse
Bears on its bosom, quietly gave way,
And leaned, in graceful attitude, to rest.
How strikingly the course of nature tells
By its light heed of human suffering,
That it was fashioned for a happier world!
King David's limbs were weary. He had fled
From far Jerusalem: and now he stood
With his faint people, for a little space,
Upon the shore of Jordan. The light wind
Of morn was stirring, and he bared his brow,
To its refreshing breath; for he had worn
The mourner’s covering, and had not felt
That he could see his people until now.
They gathered round him on the fresh green bank
' And spoke their kindly words: and as the sun
Rose up in heaven, he knelt among them there,
And bowed his head upon his hands to pray.
Oh! when the heart is full—when bitter thoughts
Come crowding thickly up for utterance,
And the poor common words of courtesy,
Are such a very mockery—how much
The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer!
He prayed for Israel: and his voice went up
Strongly and fervently. He prayed for those,
Whose love had been his shield: and his deep tones
Grew tremulous. But, oh! for Absalom—
For his estranged misguided Absalom—
The proud bright being who had burst away
In all his princely beauty, to defy
The heart that cherished him—for him he poured
In agony that would not be controlled
ee
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titties
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208
“Q ABSALOM, MY SON, MY SON!”
12
BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Strong supplication, and forgave him there,
. Before his God, for his deep sinfulness.
* * * *
The pall was settled. He who slept beneath,
Was straightened for the grave: and as the folds
Sank to the still proportions, they betrayed
The matchless symmetry of Absalom.
His hair was yet unshorn, and silken curls
Were floating round the tassels as they swayed
To the admitted air, as glossy now
As when, in hours of gentle dalliance, bathing
The snowy fingers of Judea’s girls.
His helm was at his feet: his banner soiled
With trailing through Jerusalem, was laid,
Reversed beside him: and the jeweled hilt
Whose diamonds lit the passage of his blade,
Rested like mockery on his covered brow.
The soldiers of the King trod to and fro,
Clad in the garb of battle; and their chief,
The mighty Joab, stood beside the bier,
And gazed upon the dark pall steadfastly,
As if he feared the slumberer might stir.
A slow step startled him. He grasped his blade
As if a trumpet rang: but the bent form
Of David entered, and he gave command
In a low tone to his few followers,
Who left him with his dead. The King stood still
Till the last echo died; then throwing off
The sackcloth from his brow, and laying back
The pall from the still features of. his child,
He bowed his head upon him, and broke forth .
In the resistless eloquence of woe:
“Alas! my noble boy! that thou shouldst die,—
Thou who wert made so beautifully fair!
That death should settle in thy glorious eye,
And leave his stillness in this clustering hair—
How could he mark thee for the silent tomb,
My proud boy, Absalom!
“Cold is thy brow, my son! and I am chill
As to my bosom I have tried to press thee—
How was I| wont to feel my pulses thrill,
Like a rich harp string, yearning to caress thee—
And hear thy sweet ‘A7y father, from these dumb
And cold lips, Absalom!
205
206 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
«The grave hath won thee. I shall hear the gush
Of music, and the voices of the young;
And life will pass me in the mantling blush;
And the dark tresses to the soft winds flung—
But thou no more with thy sweet voice shalt come
To meet me, Absalom!
And, oh! when IJ am stricken, and my heart
Like a bruised reed, is waiting to be broken,
How will its love for thee, as I depart,
Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token!
It were so sweet, amid death’s gathering gloom.
To see thee, Absalom!
And now, farewell! ’Tis hard to give thee up,
With death so like a gentle slumber on thee;
And thy dark sin—oh! I could drink the cup
If from this woe its bitterness had won thee.
May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home.
My lost boy, Absalom!”
He covered up his face, and bowed himself
A moment on his child: then giving him
A look of melting tenderness, he clasped
His hands convulsively, as if in prayer:
And as if strength were given him of God,
He rose up calmly and composed the pall
Fairly and decently, and left him there
As though his rest had been a breathing sleep.
“THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL AND THE HORSEMEN THEREOF.” 207
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XIII.
ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE’S Son.
“Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.”"—//. Kings z2., 9.
“Do the duty which lies nearest thee, which thou knoweth to bea duty. Thy
second duty will already have become clearer.”— Thomas Carlyle.
God entrusts to all
Talents few or many;
None so young or small
That they have not any.
Though the great and wise
Havea greater number,
Yet my one I prize,
And it must not slumber.
Little drops of rain
Bring the springing flowers;
And I may attain
Much by little powers.
Every little mite,
Every little measure
Helps to spread the light,
Helps to swell the treasure.
God will surely ask
Ere I enter heaven,
Have I done the task
Which to me was given.
God entrusts to all
Talents few or many;
None so young or small
That they have not any.
—F. Edmeston.
When Elijah, the mysterious Tishbite, the hero of Car-
mel—the stern incarnate conscience, before whom King Ahab
209
210 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
trembled and the fierce Jezebel stood abashed—was about to
pass away as suddenly and as mysteriously as he came, he
seems to have been anxious to nominate his successor. Not
that he had left any work undone, for Elijah’s brief life was
rounded and complete, as far as any life could be; and yet
we always Jook on Elisha as the natural successor of the
Prophet of Fire.
Elijah and Elisha are together in Solemn converse; the
hour of parting comes. The chariot of God rolls along, and
in flaming splendor Elijah passes from Elisha’s gaze.
“My Father! my Father! the chariot of Israel and the
horsemen thereof!” cried Elisha, as in solemn awe he looked
upward to the heavens, all aflame with sunset glories; and
then catching the falling mantle of Elijah, he asks:
“Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
The first time Elisha is met in the Bible story, he 1s
found at work in his father’s fields in Abel-meholah, a farm-
ing district in the valley of the Jordan. Elijah was passing
on one occasion from Sinai to Damascus through this fertile
valley, when he saw Elisha at work, and moved of God, he
went and cast his mantle about him, which was undoubtedly
the first intimation the young farmer received of the great
destiny that awaited him. He prayed that a double portion
of the spirit of Elijah might rest upon him, and the Bible
tells us in brief, impressive words, that the spirit of Elijah
did rest upon Elisha.
It would be very difficult to think of two men more
widely different in character than these two. Elijah was
stern, unbending and severe, the incarnate conscience of his
age; Elisha of gentle spirit, full of pathos, tenderness and
-love. There were magnificent, heroic scenes, in the life of
Elijah, but none in the life of Elisha.
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 211
Still there are some touching stories in the life of this
‘more gentle prophet. Just as Christ found a home and welcome
in the little cottage home of Bethany, so Elisha found a
peaceful and pleasant resting place in the little village of Shu-
nam. There was a devout woman, probably of considerable
wealth, who served the God of Israel, who, with her husband,
urged the prophet to make their house his home whenever in
his wanderings he came near. The prophet’s chamber on the
wall was simply furnished with bed and table, with stool and
candlestick, and was kept sacred to his service. Many were
the peaceful hours Elisha spent in Shunem. From the window
of his chamber on the wall Elisha could see the verdant
slopes of Mount Tabor, for Tabor was but tive miles away.
But the home of Shunam could not charm death from the
threshold any more than the home of Lazarus and Martha
and Mary.
The pious Shunammite had an only son—the son of her
mature age——-and one day he was busy in his father’s fields
among the reapers. It was high noon, and the sun smote
him and he fell, and as he fell, his father caught him and
said:
“What ails thee, my boy?”
‘““Oh, my head, my head!” was all the poor boy could
say.
“Carry him to his mother,’
And on his mother’s knee he died.
That was a sad day in Shunam. How gladly the
bright boy had obeyed his mother when she wished him to-
"was the father’s charge.
take water to the field!
“Haste thee, my child!” the Syrian mother said,
“ Thy father is athirst "—and, from the depths
Of the cool well under the leaning tree,
She drew refreshing water, and with thoughts
212
BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Of God’s sweet goodness stirring at her heart,
She bless’d her beautiful boy, and to his way
Committed him. And he went lightly on,
With his soft hands press’d closely to the cool _
Stone vessel, and his little naked feet
Lifted with watchful care; and o’er the hills,
And through the light green hollows where the lambs
Go for the tender grass, he kept his way,
Wiling its distance with his simple thoughts,
Till, in the wilderness of sheaves, with brows
Throbbing with heat, he set his burden down.
Childhood is restless ever, and the boy
Stay’d not within the shadow of the tree,
But with a joyous industry went forth
Into the reaper’s places, and bound up
His tiny sheaves, and plaited cunningly
The pliant withs out of the shining straw—
Cheering their labor on, till they forgot
The heat and weariness of their stooping toil
In the beguiling of his playful mirth.
resently he was silent, and his eye
Closed as with dizzy pain; and with his hand
Press'd hard upon his forehead, and his breast
Heaving with the suppression of a cry,
He utter’d a faint murmur, and fell back
Upon the loosen’d sheaf, insensible.
They bore him to his mother, and he lay
Upon her knees till noon—and then he died!
She had watch’d every breath, and kept her hand
Soft on his forehead, and gazed in upon
The dreamy languor of his listless eye,
_ And she had laid back all his sunny curls
And kiss’d his delicate lip, and lifted him
Into her bosom, till her heart grew strong—
His beauty was so unlike death! She lean’d
Over him now, that she might catch the low
Sweet music of his breath, that she had learn’d
To love when he was slumbering at her side
In his unconscious infancy—
“—So still!
‘Tis asoft sleep! How beautiful he lies,
_ With his fair forehead, and the rosy veins
Playing so freshly in his sunny cheek!
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“YrET Forty Days
AND NINEVEH SHALL BE DESTROYED,
213
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 215
How could they say that he would die! Oh God!
I could not lose him!”
By a strange instinct the sorrowing mother took her
dead boy into the prophet’s chamber, and laid him upon the
prophet’s bed. She called to the boy, but he did not answer;
she kissed his cold lips, but there was no response. The
balmy breeze from Mount Tabor blew in from the open window,
but. it brought no color back to the cold, dead face.
And as Martha and Mary in later years wished for the
coming of the Christ, when Lazarus was dead, so this sad-
hearted woman wished for the coming of the man of God.
And at last Elisha came. Entering his chamber on the wall
and closing the door, he gazed for a moment upon the dead
boy, who had always been the first to welcome him and the
last to bid him farewell. Then he prayed for power, and
stretching himself upon the child, hand to hand, heart to heart,
mouth to mouth, he breathed his very life into the child,
and he revived, and his heart began to beat, and his eyes
were filled with wondering glances, and he lived!
And what came of this boy of Shunam? Surely he was
not called back to life for nothing! Tradition says that
the boy of the sunstroke, after his mother’s death, became
the constant companion of the prophet Elisha, and that in
due time he himself became a prophet, none other than that
prophet Jonah, whom God sent to Nineveh to preach a
gospel of strange wonders.
There may be little to rely upon in this tradition, but
its very existence gives some sort of interest to the touching
story of the Shunammite’s son. It was worth being called
pack to life to do such a work as Jonah did. It is true
Jonah was reluctant to go where God told him to go, and
to say what God told him to say.
216 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Who wants to be a bearer of ill news?
It would take a good deal of courage to preach that kind
of preaching now. Who would care to stand up in State
street in Chicago; or Broadway, New York; or Chestnut
street, Philadelphia, and cry aloud: “Yet forty days, and
this city shall be destroyed?” Who would care to do this kind
of thing? How the people would laugh! And it is almost
certain if you did any such thing you would be arrested.
But Jonah went to Nineveh after all, and right in the
midst of its magnificent splendor, he stood up and cried:
“Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed!”
Did the people laugh at him? Did they arrest him for
insanity? No; they repented! They hoped against hope.
They said: ‘Who can tell? if God will be gracious!” And
God was gracious and spared the city. And though Jonah
was reluctant at first to go to Nineveh, he lived to see that
whole city on its knees, in contrite prayer, and it may be
said that he was one of the most successful preachers that
ever preached the gospel of redeeming grace.
It is very likely that boys will hear a good deal of
merriment made about Jonah and his mission. People who
think it’s quite clever not to believe anything can find great
difficulties in this Bible story.
When the writer of this book was a_ boy, just such
clever people said there was no truth in the story—there was
no such place as Nineveh. Well—would you believe it?—
about this time Austin Henry Layard and a company of
explorers went and dug up Nineveh, and brought parts of
those very palaces, with their winged bulls, to England and
placed them in the British Museum for all the world to see—
“ And there they are unto this day
To witness if I lie.”
XIV.
JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL—THE YOUNG PROPHETS OF SAD-
NESS AND EXILE.
“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears!’—feremizah
ZONE
“Tf I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning, let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief
joy."—Psalms cxxxvit., 5, 6.
Great is the Lord our God,
And let His praise be great;
He makes His churches His abode,
His most delightful seat.
These temples of His grace,
How beautiful they stand!
The honors of our native place,
And bulwarks of our land.
In Zion God is known,
A refuge in distress,
How bright has His salvation shone,
Through all her palaces!
Oft have our fathers told,
Our eyes have often seen,
How well our God secures the fold
Where His own sheep have been.
In every new distress
We'll to His house repair;
We'll think upon His wondrous grace,
And seek deliverance there.
—Tsaac Watts.
These two great prophets of ancient Israel—Jeremiah
and Ezekiel—were about as widely different in character as
217
218 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
men well could be. One was the prophet of tears, the other
the prophet of mystic dreams. At the thought of Israel’s
sorrows, Jeremiah’s tears broke forth as from a fountain; but
Ezekiel had no tears to shed; you might have ground him
to powder, but you could not have crushed him to tears.
These men were both sons of priests; they lived in the
same age; they prophesied to the same people; they taught
substantially the same truths; the voice of Jeremiah was
tremulous with emotion; the voice of Ezekiel rung out like
a bell with the clear-cut tones of strong conviction.
Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah. Hilkiah was a priest,
and lived at a little village named Anathoth, a pleasant
wooded region embosomed amongst the hills of Benjamin.
This quiet rural district was not more than about three miles
from Jerusalem, and was mainly inhabited by priests and
their families. You see, it was conveniently near Jerusalem,
not more than an hour’s pleasant walk from the temple.
To this boy, Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah the priest, when not
more than fourteen or fifteen years old, came the voice of
God calling him to the great work of his life. How the
voice came we are not told with any accuracy. Perhaps in
a dream of the night, and perhaps in a dream of the day.
Who can tell? We have seen how God came in dreams to
Jacob, and to Joseph, why should he not come to Jeremiah
along the same mystic pathway?
You have all read of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans,
how in her young days she heard in the fields and highways
of Domremy strange voices—voices heard by none beside her-
self—and these voices charged her, maiden though she was,
to awake the slumbering zeal of her countrymen, and free
France of the foeman’s thrall. Whatever those voices were,
they made a majestic woman of her; they inspired her with
“ BEHOLD AND SEE IF THERE BE ANY SORROW LIKE UNTO My SoRROW,” 219
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 221
patriotism and courage; they made her not only one of “the
brightest lights,” but one of the bravest spirits of ancient
France; and when the fires of martydom flamed around her,
they only secured for the fair young martyr an everlasting
fame.
Think of young Jeremiah, leaving Anathoth early in the
evening to meet his priestly father as he returned from the
service of the temple. Think of the questions he would ask,
and how he would be sure to hear the sad conversations of
other venerable priests, as they deplored the condition of
Israel, and longed for some great leader who should rouse
the nation to a better thought and a nobler life.
Is it so very wonderful that, with his mind in such a
frame as these conversations would be sure to induce, he
should hear voices, and dream dreams—waking dreams of the
day as well as dreams of the night?
Whether in dream by day or night; or whether in voices
that echoed over hill and through valley; or whether in the
still, small voice, that only the boy himself could faintly hear,
it matters not; the message came. A grand, solemn mes-
sage:
‘Before thou wast, I knew thee, and I have sanctified
thee, and ordained thee a prophet of the nations!”
You cannot think how startled, how awe-stricken Jere-
miah was. Doubtless the message was repeated again and
again. And at last Jeremiah answered, humbly, modestly,
for he felt in his heart of hearts that this was the voice of
God.
“Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am but a
child!”
Then came the answering word:
“Say not ‘I am a child;’ for thou shalt go to all that
222 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt
speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to
deliver thee. Behold I have put my words into thy mouth.
See I have set thee this day over the nations and over the
kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and
to throw down, to build and to plant.”
Here was a strange message! Here was strange work!
But the voices have more than this for Jeremiah’s attentive
ear and watchful eye.
“What seest thou, Jeremiah?”
“T see a rod of an almond tree.”
“Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for
I will hasten my word to perform it.
“And the word of the Lord came unto me the second
time, saying, What seest thour And I said, I see a seeth-
ing pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the
Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break
forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will
call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the
Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his
throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against
all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities
of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them
touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and
have burned incense unto other gods, and worshiped the
works of their own hands.
“Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak
unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at
their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold,
I have made thee this day, a defenced city, and an
iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land,
against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof,
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 223
against the priests thereof, and against the people of
the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall
not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord,
to deliver thee.”
Was ever such a message given to a boy of fifteen?
But then, you see, when God stands beside a boy, a boy may
become wonderfully powerful. God can make a boy—nay,
even a child—as strong as a defenced city, as firm as an
jron pillar, as safe as walls of brass! Anything, everything,
if he but puts his trust in God.
And so this boy Jeremiah became one of God’s greatest
prophets. He lived to see Jerusalem besieged and laid low.
He saw the temple in ruins, he saw his fellow-countrymen
carried away captive by Assyrian foemen. He saw God's
chosen city a desolation. And as he stood amid the awful
ruin, the Assyrian mocked his grief and_ said, “Where is
now thy God?”
With bowed head and uplifted hand, leaning upon the
top of his staff, the prophet makes answer:
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and
sce, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is
done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day
of his fierce anger!”
God had called Jeremiah to a large task. The work
before him was not the easy occupation of a summer’s day.
The times were “out of joint,” and to set them right, and to
remould and renew his age, was the great mission of his
life. In the discharge of these solemn duties, he had to bear
many a cross and fight many a battle. [Ie knew the bit-
terness of imprisonment, and more than once death stared
him in the face.. But Jeremiah was true to the solemn trust
God had imposed on him. His later years are full of interest
204 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
_ and instruction. The whole tendency and character of his life
may be gathered from that wonderful book, the book of
Lamentations.
Of course, it must be admitted that this is hardly the
kind of book boys will care much about reading while they are
boys; but in maturer years, when the Bible comes to be more
of a study, they will see what a grand legacy this boy of Ana-
thoth left to enrich the sacred literature of all coming time..
There is no sublimer elegy in all the world than the Lam-
entations of Jeremiah. There is a tear in every word, a
sigh in every line; and the whole book sounds like a mournful
requiem, wrung from a broken heart, over the hapless down-
fall of the Kingdom of God.
Of the boyhood of Ezekiel very little is known. He
was the son of Buzi, who like Jeremiah’s father, was also a
priest. What knowledge these two boys had of one another,
or if they knew each other at all, we do not know. Ezekiel
was carried away captive at the destruction of Jerusalem.
A community of these Jews had settled in Babylon, by the
banks of the river Chebar, and it was here, in this land of *
exile, far from home, that the word of God comes to Ezekiel.
We are not much at a loss to know how these communications.
canie. Ezekiel simply says:
‘The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”
And in farther reference to the matter, the Bible in
a brief biographical notice, says:
“Tn the fifth year of the month, which was the fifth
year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the Lord.
came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the:
land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar; and the hand.
of the Lord was there upon him.”
It is evident that Ezekiel had been called to discharge
Tue VALLEY oF Dry BONES, 229
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 227
the office of priest to this community of exiled Jews, who
were resolved to maintain the worship of the God of their
fathers though they, were in a foreign land, and while thus
engaged in these sacred tasks, the heavens were opened, and
Ezekiel “saw visions of God.”
And what visions they were—mystic, weird and wonder-
ful! Revolving wheels—wheels within wheels—flying angels,
and all sorts of strange, mysterious things! If Jeremiah was
the prophet of tears, we may well call Ezekiel the prophet
of mystery.
Of all those remarkable visions perhaps the most
remarkable, and yet the one easiest to understand, is that
vision of the valley of dry bones. The visions of the
besieged city, of the boiling pot, and of the eagles, are all
very wonderful, but they are not to compare with this mysteri-
ous scene where the whole region lies before the prophet
like a vast charnel-house.
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me
out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst
of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to
pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very
many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And
he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I
answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.
“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord.
“Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I
will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And
I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you,
and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye
shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
228 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
‘So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophe-
sied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones
came together, bone to his bone. And, when I beheld, lo,
the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, proph-
esy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord
God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon
these slain, that they may live.
‘So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath
came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their
feet, an exceeding great army.
“Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried,
and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. ‘There-
fore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God;
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause
you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the
land of Israel.
‘““And ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
We cannot stay longer here. These two great prophets
drank in the inspiration that made their lives so noble, when
they were boys. From their earliest days they were much about
the temple of God. When Jeremiah saw that temple
destroyed, it broke his heart. When Ezekiel rose to the solemn
claims of life in Babylon, he devoted himself to the mainten-
ance of the worship of the God of Israel, and if you would
know how dearly Ezekiel loved the church of God, though
in a foreign land, you will find it all set beautifully forth in
that sweet and sacred psalm of exile:
‘By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we
wept, when we remembered Zion.
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 229
‘“We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst
thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required
of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth,
saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
‘“*Flow shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’
“Tf I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget
her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem
above my chief joy.”
XV.
DANIEL AND His FRIENDS.
“We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set
up.”—Dantiel i22., 78.
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house,
and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his
knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-
time.”— Daniel vi., Zo.
“ Whether we face the lions.in the den,
Or sail o’er martyrdom’s red, fiery seas,
Around us camp, invisible to men,
‘The cloud of witnesses.’
No chains can bind, no flames consume the soul;
God's breath dissolves the avalanche of ill.
When the dark clouds of suffering round us roll,
He sends His angels still.”
—Thomas L. Harris.
“The courage of Daniel is true heroism. It is not physical daring, such as
beneath some proud impulse will rush upon an enemy’s steel; it is not reckless valor,
sporting with a life which ill-fortune has blighted or which despair has made
intolerable; it is not the passiveness of the stoic, through whose indifferent heart no
tides of feeling flow; it is the calm courage which reflects upon its alternative, and
deliberately chooses to do right; it is the determination of Christian principle, whose
foot resteth on the rock, and whose eye pierceth into heaven.”—Wm. M. Punshon.
The Bible is full of stories of heroic men and women.
We have seen the heroism of Samson, the young Hercules of
the Old Testament. We have read of the bravery of David,
who slew the giant of Gath with a pebble from the brook.
But for real heroism—for downright, sterling courage—it is
very questionable if the world has ever seen four braver young
men than Daniel and his friends. The story of these valiant
230
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 231
young Jews is so deeply imprinted on the very heart of the
world that to be “a Daniel” means to be full to the brim of
the very highest kind of courage.
While Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, was in Jerusa-
lem on one occasion, he commanded the chief of his officers
to choose some of the princes of the children of Israel, that
he might take them to be servants in his palace at Babylon.
None should be chosen, the King said, who had any fault in
them, but only such as were young and beautiful and quick
to learn. For he wanted them to be taught in all the wisdom
of the Chaldeans, and to learn also the language that the
Chaldeans spoke. After they had been instructed in these
things for three years, they were to come to the palace, and
stay there and wait on the King.
Among those that were chosen by the chief officer, were
four young men, named Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. These four were brought to Babylon, and teachers
were set over them, that they might be taught as King
Nebuchadnezzar commanded.
From the very first, Daniel and his companions gave full
proof of what sort of mettle they were made of. Because
they were in Babylon, they were not going therefore to do
as the Babylonians did. On the question of wine-drinking
'and high living, they took a distinct stand from the very
first. And the fact that they preferred to get along with
simple food and water, seemed as absurd to the Babylonians
three thousand years ago, as the same thing does to many
people to-day.
But they would not drink wine, and they would not
indulge in luxuries. The steward of the palace, who had
charge of them, and was to some extent responsible for them,
was afraid they could not stand this kind of simple diet. He
232 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
had not been used to temperance boys. But they begged
him to give them a trial.
So the steward gave them pulse for ten days, and at
the end of that time their faces were fatter and fairer than
all the other young men who ate food from the King’s table.
Then he took away the meat and the wine that were sent
to them, and gave them only pulse to eat. And God helped
these four young men to get knowledge and wisdom, and he
made Daniel to understand visions and dreams.
After they had been taught for three years, the chief
officer brought them into the palace of the King. And King
Nebuchadnezzar talked with them, and found that among all
those who had been chosen for his servants, none were like
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; therefore they
staid at the palace and waited on the King. And in all the
questions which the King asked them concerning the things
they had learned, he found them ten times better than all
the wise men in his kingdom.
Time passes, and we find ourselves once more in the
midst of dreams and dreamers. The King had a very wonder-
ful dream, all about an immense image made up of gold and
silver, and brass, and iron, and clay. This dream troubled
the King; and yet strange to say, the King could not call the
dream to mind. So when he sent for all his wise men and
soothsayers, and they could not tell the King what he had
been dreaming about, much less the interpretation thereof,
he was very angry, and he gave orders that these speech-
less interpreters of dreams should be put to death.
Hearing of all this, Daniel said if the King would give him
a little time he would try and tell him all about the dream.
And the King said, he would wait and see what this young
Hebrew could do. Then Daniel and his friends prayed for
ea
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au AM! me
- “Mene! MENE! TreEKkEL! UPpHarsin!” 255
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 235
the help of God, that Daniel might have wisdom given him
to answer the King’s desire. And the God who gave the
King the dream, gave Daniel the interpretation.
Then Daniel told the King the interpretation of it. The
gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay, that were
in the image, all meant different kingdoms. The head of
gold meant Nebuchadnezzar himself, Daniel said, because
God had given him the greatest of the kingdoms, and made
him greater than all the other Kings who were upon earth.
But after he should die, new kingdoms would arise: the
silver, the brass, the iron, and the clay meant these.
Last of all, Daniel said, the Lord would set up one
kingdom more, which should never be destroyed, but should
break in pieces all the kingdoms that were before it, as the
stone cut out of the mountain had broken the image in
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. This stone meant the kingdom
of Christ.
After Daniel had told the King his dream and the
interpretation of it, the King fell on his face before Daniel,
and said to him, It is true that your God is a God of gods,
and a King of Kings, and can tell all secret things, because
he has told thee this dream. Then the King made Daniel
a great man, and gave him many gifts, and appointed him
ruler over the province of Babylon, and the chief governor
over all the wise men; and because Daniel requested it, he
made his three friends also, rulers in the land. But Daniel
stayed at the palace of the King.
Then came seven sad years for that unhappy King;
after which he died. Meantime Daniel and his friends had
almost the entire government of Babylon on their hands.
Then came Belshazzar to reign over the kingdom. He
was a sad example of kingship. His conduct must have
236 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
saddened Daniel and his friends, and indeed all Babylon
ought to have been ashamed of their drunken, dissipated
ruler.
In one of his drunken frolics, when he had made a great
feast to a thousand of his boon companions, he so far forgot
all that was noble and kinglike, as to send for the sacred
ewers and cups, and other vessels, which had been brought
from the temple of God at Jerusalem, out of which they
drank, and praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass and
of iron, of wood and of stone.
And just when the feast was at its height, suddenly
the finger of a man’s hand was seen writing upon the wall
of the palace four mysterious words: “ Mene! Mene! Tekel!
Upharsin!” The sight was terrible. It sobered that drunken
company. What did those four words mean? The wise
men could not tell. So Daniel was sent for and he spoke
plainly to the King, and said:
“Thou hast been proud, and sinned against God; and
they have brought. the vessels of his temple before thee, and
thou and thy lords, and thy wives, have drunk wine in
them. Thou hast praised the idols of silver and gold, of
brass, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see, nor hear, nor
know anything; but the true God who lets thee live, and
gives thee all things, thou hast not praised. Therefore has
he sent this hand, and this writing was written; and these
are the words of it: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHAR-
SIN. This is the interpretation: Thy Kingdom is ended,
God hath taken it from thee. He tried thee as King, but
thou hast not obeyed him. He has given thy kingdom to
the Medes and the Persians.”
It had been a wild and wicked scene, but was there ever
stranger ending to a royal banquet!
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 237
Belshazzar is King: Belshazzar is lord:
And a thousand dark nobles all bend at his board;
Fruits glisten; flowers blossom; meats steam; and a flood
Of the wine that man loveth runs redder than blood:
Wild dancers are there, and a riot of mirth,
And the beauty that maddens the passions of earth; f
And the crowds all shout °
Till the vast roofs ring—
“All praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the King!”
“Bring forth,” cries the monarch, “the vessels of gold,
Which my father tore down from the temples of old!—
Bring forth! and we'll drink, while the trumpets are blown,
To the gods of bright silver, of gold, and of stone:
Bring forth!” And before him the vessels all shine;
And he bows unto Baal; and he drinks the dark wine;
While the trumpets bray,
And the cymbals ring—
“Praise, praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the King!”
Now what cometh? Look, look! Without menace or call,
Who writes, with the lightning’s bright hand, on the wall?
What pierceth the King like the point of a dart?
What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart?
“Chaldeans! magicians! the letters expound.”
They are read: and Belshazzar is dead on the ground.
Hark! the Persian is come
On a conqueror’s wing;
And a Mede’s on the throne of Belshazzar the King.
‘‘And in that night was Belshazzar, King of the Chaldeans,
slain.”
And now Darius was King; and a conspiracy was set
on foot to put an end to the power and influence of Daniel.
A decree was sent forth to the effect that anyone who was
found praying to any god, or asking any petition of anybody
save the King, should be cast into a den of lions.
Those who conspired to make this decree evidently
thought that this was a sure way of getting rid of Daniel.
They knew Daniel was a man of prayer, and they did him
the honor of believing that he would go on praying all the
238 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
same—decree or no decree. Their whole conspiracy was
quite a compliment to Daniel as a man of prayer.
And Daniel did just as they felt sure he would. He
went on praying three times a day, with his window open
toward Jerusalem, just as though there had been no decree.
So these men who had laid this plot to put an end to Daniel’s
life, brought the matter before the King. They reported
that Daniel was praying just as usual. The King was very
much annoyed, and would have spared Daniel if he could, but,
King though he was, he was helpless. He must maintain his
own decree, and Daniel was cast into the den of lions.
These miserable enemies of Daniel thought their work
was effectually done. And so it was, as far as they were con-
cerned. But they had left wholly out of their calculation the
fact that Daniel’s God was God of lions as well as God of
men. When the morning came, what was their surprise to
find Daniel alive and unharmed!
The King was greatly delighted when he found that Dan-
iel was yet alive. And when he asked Daniel what it all
meant, Daniel simply said:
“My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the mouths
of the lions.” !
Then disaster fell upon the conspirators. They were
cast into the very den of lions they had so shrewdly pre-
pared for Daniel, and there was no angel to shut the mouths
of the lions.
And now we must go back a little in the history. In the
days of Nebuchadnezzar, a most wonderful thing occurred.
‘The King set up a great golden image, about a hundred feet
high, in the plain of Dura, and demanded that everybody
should bow down and worship it; and those who would
not were to be cast into a fiery furnace.
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 241
Now, the three friends of Daniel—Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego—were faithful to their religion and to the God of
their fathers, and they would not bow down. The King
threatened, but they said God would deliver them. Anyway,
they would not bow down. In the face of all Babylon, they
stood up, boldly erect.
Then Nebuchadnezzar became angry; and turning a
fierce and cruel gaze on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
he charged his servants that they should heat the furnace
seven times hotter than it was heated before. This done,
he called for his soldiers to bind the three brave young men
and cast them into the furnace. The order was obeyed.
Bound with cords, in their coats, and other garments, they
were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace. And because
the furnace was exceeding hot, and the King made them go
near to it, the flames scorched and burned the men who cast
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in; and these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into
the midst of the fire. But soon they rose up, and walked
in the fire; for the God they served and worshiped was the
God who never forsakes those who put their trust in him.
Now was ever such a sight as that? Think of it! The
fire would not burn them! It probably burned the cords and
ropes with which they were bound, but it touched not them.
They walked unharmed and free in the midst of the leaping
flaines.
No wonder that the angry King was greatly astonished;
and he said in haste to the rulers and great men who were
with him, ‘“ Did we not cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire?” They answered, ‘‘ We did, O King.” And he
said, “‘Lo, I see four men loose and walking in the midst
of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the form of the
242 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
fourth is like the Son of God.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came
near to the mouth of the burning, fiery furnace, and cried
out and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye ser-
vants of the Most High God, come out and come here.”
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the
midst of the fire. And the princes, the governors, and the
captains, who were gathered together, saw these men whom
the fire had not hurt, nor was a hair of their heads ‘burned,
neither were their coats changed, nor was the smell of the
fire upon them.
And now the furious, foolish, unreasonable King, rushed
from one extreme to another. An hour ago he would burn
to ashes these faithful young men who trusted in the
God of Israel; and now, because God has appeared so mani-
festly on their behalf he would force all Babylon to turn
away in a moment from the Golden Image and worship the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So he issued his
decree:
‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego, who has sent his angel and saved his servants that
trusted in him. Therefore I make a decree anda law, that
every nation and people which shall speak evil of the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be destroyed, and
their houses shall be torn down and made into heaps; for
there is no other God that can save him.”
Then the King made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego greater than they had been before in the province of
Babylon. .
‘The story of these young Hebrews is well worth a
boy’s most careful study. The moral of their lives is as
clear and simple as the day: “Trust in God, do the right,
and all will be well.”
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 243
Courage, courage, do not stumble,
Though thy path be dark as night;
There’s a star to guide the humble;
“Trust in God, and do the right.”
Though the road be long and dreary,
And its ending out of sight;
Foot it bravely—strong or weary;
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Trust no party, church, or faction,
Trust no leaders in the fight,
But in every word and action
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Some will hate thee, some will love thee,
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee,
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Simple rule and safest guiding,
Inward peace and inward light,
Star upon our path abiding,
“Trust in God, and do the right.”
—Norman MacLeod.
244 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
L think, when I read that sweet story of old,
When Fesus was here among men,
How He called little children as lambs to His fold,
I should like to have been with them then.
I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arm had been thrown around me,
And thatI might have seen His kind look when He said,
Let the little ones come unto Me.
Yet still to His footstool in prayer I may go,
And ask for a share in His love ;
And if I now earnestly seek Fim below,
T shall see Him and hear Him above,
In that beautiful place He ts gone to prepare
for all that are washed and forgiven,
And many dear children are gathering there,
For of such is the kingdom of heaven
But thousands and thousands, who wander and fall,
Never heard of that heavenly home;
I should like them to know there ts room for them ali,
And that Fesus has bid them to come.
L long for the joy of that glorious time,
The sweetest, the brightest,and best,
When the dear little children of every clime
Shall crowd to His arms and be blest.
XVI.
THe BrrtH AND BoyHoop oF JESUS.
“ Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
Star of. the East the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Cold on his cradle the dew drops are shining,
Low lies his head with the beasts of the stall
Angels adore him in slumber reclining,
Maker, and Monarch, and Saviour of all.”
—Reginald Heber.
The world knows but little of its best and greatest
men. Men have lived whose names will be famous as long
as the world endures, and yet all that is known of them
would not fill a column in a newspaper. Of the life of the
Lord Jesus Christ we know but little, of his childhood and
youth, least of all. The records of that divine life contained
in the four gospels are brief and fragmentary. Thankful as
we are for the mere outlines of this sacred story, we often
find ourselves longing to know more of what
“He did and said
And suffered for us here below,”
and particularly of the romantic period of his boyhood and
youth.
It is remarkable that, concerning this whole period of
the birth and early years of Jesus, John the Evangelist, the
most intimate friend and companion of our Lord in “the
disciple whom Jesus loved,” speaks not one word. The same
245
246 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
thing is true of Mark, the friend and companion of the
Apostle Peter. Matthew tells us of the visit of the Magi,
and records the flight into Egypt and the return to Naza-
reth, and there his story ends. For all the rest we are
indebted to the Evangelist Luke, and even then, after gath-
ering all the fragments of the story together, we cannot
help regretting that we know so “ttle of what we desire to
know so much.
If we gather these precious fragments and group them
as far as possible in their proper order, we shall find all
that the gospels tell us of the birth and boyhood of Jesus is
comprised in the following nine brief records:
The Angelic Announcement, Luke i., 26-38.
The Birth of Jesus, Matt. i., 25; Luke ii, 6, 7.
The Song of the Angels, Luke ii., 8-14.
The Visit of the Shepherds, Luke ii., 15-18.
Circumcision and Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, Luke ii., 22-38,
The Homage of the Magi, Matt. i., 12. ;
The Flight into Egypt, Matt. ii, 13-15.
Return from Egyt to Nazareth, Matt. ii., 19-23.
In the Temple at the Passover, Luke ii., 40-52.
Brief as are these outlines of the birth of the Son of
God, it is wonderful to note how the lowly advent in the
crowded inn of Bethlehem has laid hold upon the heart of
the world and fixed itself forever in its memory. Nations
sometimes agree to make the birthdays of their kings or
warriors or poets, days of jubilance and celebration. In this
fashion we keep green the memory of Washington and Lin-
coln. But these celebrations are few in number and are gen-
erally limited to one nation. But it is not so with the birth-
day of Jesus Christ. One day in the year the whole world
unites to celebrate his advent. The Twenty-fifth of Decem-
ber may not be the actual anniversary of the birth of Jesus.
It is not possible to be quite certain about the date. But
Se) fearneg ee Site
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 247
that matters little. Christmas day is the one, only, univer-
sal holiday of the year. All the world in some form or
other keeps Christmas day. In countries civilized and unciv-
ilized, by land and sea, in the home and the church, in the
hospital and even the jail, this day is kept in honor of the
child who was born in Bethlehem, -No other birth in all
the history of the world is so honored. Christmas has no
meaning apart from Christ. All the world agrees that the
true spirit of Christmas is the Christlike spirit, expressed
perfectly in the song of the angels, that so amazed the shep-
herds in their midnight vigil on the plains of Bethlehem—
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
to men.”
When the boys who read this book grow older, they will
probably have their attention called to the mysterious char-
acter of the birth of Jesus. That Jesus Christ came into the
world in a way no other human being ever came is one of
those mysteries that may be accepted, but can never be
explained. Boys and men alike may be content to say with
the Apostle Paul: “Great is the mystery of godliness, God
manifest in the flesh.”
The birth of Jesus Christ was a mystery—the great mys-
tery of the ages—but is not every birth a mystery? There
never was a cradle rocked that did not contain in the baby-
form that lay therein whole worlds of mystery. Look for a
moment at your little unconscious infant brother or sister,
lying in the cradle. It knows nothing, understands nothing,
cannot think, cannot speak, does not know the sun from the
moon, or the flowers from the trees, or the fields from the
sky—does not even know which is its father, or which is its
mother. Its eyes are so weak that the light pains them; its
hands lie helpless on its little cot, and yet, in the ordinary
248 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
course of events, that little unconscious child will soon begin
to think, and feel, and know; and in a few years will climb
the hills of gladness, and tread the valley of tears, and play
its part in the stern battle of life. All this will come in the
ordinary course of common experiences. But, if special cir-
cumstances should arise, that voice that is now nothing but
a feeble “‘cry,” may grow strong to stir the thoughts and
move the hearts of thousands; that hand that now lies so help-
less on the pillow may grow mighty to shape the destinies
of a generation. Who can tell? for all life is wonderful, and
every birth a mystery. Nestling among its cradle pillows,
the child you gaze upon to-day may become, in a few brief
years, a poet such as Longfellow, or a patriot such as Lincoln.
When we think how wonderful the life of Christ was,
can we wonder that his birth should also be out of the com-
mon order? He spoke wonderful words. Even his enemies
said, ‘‘ Never man spake like this man.” So simple, so direct,
so tender were his utterances, that the common people heard
him gladly. So wonderful were his works that thousands
came from far and near to witness his mighty deeds, and
when they saw the lepers cleansed, and the lame boys, and
girls, and men, and women walking without crutches, and
palsied men, at his word, taking up their beds and carrying
them home, they said, as well they might, that all this was
passing wonderful! They judged that he who wrought these
deeds of majesty and love must be something more than
common man, and it is not to be wondered at that many
thought of Jesus as ‘‘the great power of God.” ‘That life,
so wonderful in its gentleness and power, so rich in loving
words and gracious deeds, ended amid the gloom, the pathos
and the shame of Calvary. But the shame of the cross has
changed to glory. No man now thinks of that cross as the
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 249
sign of dishonor. After all these centuries, tens of thousands
are clinging to that cross as their joy, their glory, their hope,
and they are singing with heart and voice—
“Jn the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story,
Gathers round its head sublime.”
Why should we marvel that a life so wonderful—a life
that was not only the wonder of its own generation, but
has been the wonder of every generation since—should begin
in mystery and wonder. ‘His name shall be called wonder-
ful!” was the promise of Israel’s greatest prophet; and
wonderful he was, from the manger-cradle in David’s royal
city to the cross of shame, and to the unhewn sepulchre in
the garden of Joseph of Arimathea.
But let us now turn our thoughts to the narrative. It
is all in keeping with the wonder and majesty of the life
of Jesus that angels should be concerned in the matter of
his birth. We can well believe that there was not one in
all those shining ranks, but would have counted it high
honor to be permitted to announce the near approach of the
coming Messiah. According to Luke’s story, with a joy of
which we mortals can but faintly dream, the Angel of the
Lord swept down the shining way to Mary’s peaceful home,
and broke forth in this lofty salutation:
“Hail! Thou that art highly favored,
The Lord is with thee;
Blessed art thou amongst women!”
Could anything be more natural than that angels should
hover around the birthplace of the infant Saviour? If it
was the mission of angels to minister to the servants of the
most high God, to those who should be heirs of salvation,
14
250 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
what greater joy could they have than to minister to Christ
from the first hour to the last—from Bethlehem to the
Mount of Ascension—through all the earthly sojourn of the
Son of God? As Henry Ward Beecher says—‘‘We could
not imagine the Advent stripped of its angelic love. The
dawn without a twilight, the sun without clouds of silver
and gold, the morning on the fields without dew-diamonds—
but not the Saviour without his angels! They communed
with him in the glory of his transfiguration, sustained him
in the anguish of the garden, watched at the tomb; and as
they had thronged the earth at his coming, so they seem to
have hovered in the air in multitudes at the hour of his
ascension. Their very coming and going is not with earthly
movement. They are suddenly seen in the air as one sees
white clouds round out from the blue sky in a summer’s
day, that melt back even while one looks at them. They
vibrate between the visible and the invisible. They come
without emotion. They go without flight. They dawn and
they disappear. Their words are few, but the Advent
chorus—‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men’—is still sounding its music through
the world.”
As the time drew near for the birth of Christ, the
decree went forth from Cesar Augustus that all the world
should be taxed. In other words there was to be a general
census taken, and the Jews—both men and women—had to
go to their own city to be taxed. It was this mandate that’
caused Joseph and Mary, who were of the house and lineage
of David, to take the long journey from Nazareth to Beth-
lehem, a distance of about eighty miles. It was a tedious
journey at best, and probably at this time of the year
would be as inclement as it was tedious. To David’s royal
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 251
city they wended their way. Let us turn our thoughts for
a moment to this birthplace of our Saviour.
On a green plain, pleasantly embosomed amid _ the hills
of Benjamin, stands, to this day, the city of Bethlehem, one
of the oldest cities in Palestine. The word Bethlehem means
“the House of Bread.” Never larger than a village with a
population of three thousand souls at most, it takes its place
among the most famous cities of the earth. When the
goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, was divided by
lot to the tribes of Israel, Bethlehem became a center,
around which the children of Dan and Benjamin, of Simeon
and Judah, rallied. It was to the harvest-fields of Bethlehem
that the sorrowful Naomi returned after her wanderings,
bringing back with her her daughter-in-law, Ruth, the woman
who has stood for all the ages as an example of deathless con-
stancy. Bethlehem was David’s city. Here Israel's greatest
King was born. In its pastures he guarded his father’s
flocks, and amid these peaceful scenes he gathered the inspi-
ration for that grandest of all the psalms: ‘The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want.”
But Bethlehem was destined to a greater fame. Years
passed by, and the city that gave the world its greatest
King was to give the world its promised Saviour. Over
this little city of the Orient the Star of Bethlehem hung in shim-
mering beauty. Here, amid such rude accommodation as a
crowded inn could afford, Jesus was born, to the joy of
Mary’s heart, to the gladness of all the ages. It was in the
fields of Bethlehem the shepherds heard the glad song of the
angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will to men.” Here came the hoary sages of the East,
with gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh—fit offerings
for the enthroned King, or for the suffering priest.
252 ; BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Bethlehem has long been regarded.as one of the earth’s
most hallowed shrines. Over the place where Jesus was
born, devout souls have built a magnificent church. The
stately edifice is supported on forty-eight Corinthian columns,
seventeen feet high. The lamps in this sacred church of the
nativity are never quenched.
What city of the earth has such grand _ historic memo-
riesP We pay glad pilgrimages to the birthplaces of the
great, but what birthplace is so dear to the world as Beth-
lehem ?
They sing to me of princely Tyre,
That old Phceenician gem,
Great Sidon’s daughter of the North,
But I will sing of Bethlehem!
They speak of Rome and Babylon,
What can compare to them?
So let them praise their pride and pomp, _
But Iwill speak of Bethlehem!
They praise the hundred-gated Thebes,
Old Mizraim’s diadem;
The city of the sand-girt Nile,
But I will sing of Bethlehem!
They speak of Athens, star of Greece,
Her hill of Mars, her academe,
Haunts of old wisdom and fair art,
But I will speak of Bethlehem!
Dear city where heaven met with earth,
Whence sprang the rod of Jesse’s stem,
Where Jacob’s star first shone;—of thee
I'll sing, O happy Bethlehem!
When Joseph and Mary reached the end of their long jour-
ney, they found Bethlehem so crowded that they had to be con-
tent with very inferior accommodation. The one large hotel,
or Khan, was fully occupied. ‘There was no room for them
in the inn.” And so it came to pass that Jesus was born,
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 253
not exactly in a stable as we understand that phrase, but in
one of the little caves or recesses that abound in the inns_
of these Syrian villages. The lowing kine were probably
amongst the first companions of Jesus, and a manger was his
first rude cradle. As we are told by Luke, his mother
“wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a man-
ger.”
It is very true that the surroundings of the birth of
Jesus were for the most part rude and lowly. He did not
come to a palace, to a home of luxury, to a life of ease.
It would have been altogether out of harmony with the sacred
mission that, was before him, to have entered life amid such
surroundings. But Jesus did not come to abject poverty
and wretchedness. There was no luxury in Palestine so
rich as the luxury of America to-day; there was no poverty
so poor. We are apt to make a little too much of the low-
liness of Christ’s birth and life. It was lowly, it was hum-
ble, but it was not wretched or poverty-stricken. The men
and women and children who settled in New England nearly
three hundred years ago, and the later pioneers of these vast
Western regions, had in all probability a much harder lot,
and a much rougher life than Jesus of Nazareth ever knew.
We need not exaggerate the lowliness of Christ’s earthly lot
for the sake of awakening pity. However lowly the lot was,
Jesus accepted it joyfully. If he “‘had not where to lay his
head,” he asked no man’s tears because of that. Do not let
us offer our pity to Christ. He passed by the nature of
angels and stooped to the human lot with a royal grace,
with divine gladness. Jesus never asks for pity, but ever-
more pleads for love, and for love alone!
How strangely mingle the lowliness and grandeur of
that wondrous birth! There are songs of angels, lowing of -
254 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
kine, and bleating of lambs; the noise and bustle of the
over-crowded inn; the flaming of the lustrous star that set
all the sky ablaze with beauty; the humble shepherds
bending low, paying the first tributes of homage to their
Saviour Christ the Lord; the adoration of the Wise Men,
who came from far with gifts of gold and frankincense and
myrrh!
Oh strange, oh wondrous birth! Now has Solomon’s
dream in the temple of old Jerusalem become a fact. The
solemn questions hidden in fables by the ancient world are
answered! The hopes of the ages are realized! God in
very deed has come to “dwell with men upon the earth!”
Oh happy Bethlehem! The night of the ages has ended!
The world’s fairest morning has dawned!
“There’s a song in the air!
There’s a star in the sky!
There’s a mother’s deep prayer,
And a baby’s low cry!
And the star rains its fire while the beautiful sing;
For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King.
“In the light of that star,
Lie the ages impearled;
And that song from afar,
Has swept over the world!
Every hearth is aflame, and the beautiful sing
To the homes of the nations.that Jesus is King!”
These peasant shepherds of the plains were astonished
and alarmed, as they well might be, when the glory of the
Lord filled the wide spaces of the starry heavens. Multi-
tudes of angels strong and fair, waving their wings that
shone like fire, broke forth in happy chorus; and with the
first words of the heavenly anthem the fears of the shepherds
fled. Glad tidings of great joy to all peoples for evermore!
This was the burden of their song—In the city of David
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 255
was born a Saviour, Christ the Lord. Obedient to the
heavenly vision, the shepherds journeyed to the inn at Beth-
lehem, and there they found Joseph and Mary and the babe
in the manger-cradle even as the angels had said. We may
be sure they spoke to Joseph and Mary of the wonders they
had seen.
What seems noteworthy just here is the simple iaith,
the unquestioning trust of these first worshipers of Christ.
The lowliness of Christ’s birth was no hindrance to their
faith. They had heard the message of the angels; they had
found the infant in the manger; they believed and bowed low
before him, and went forth and became the first evangelists
of the new-born King. They told their message plainly and
simply. They had heard the angels sing; they had been
eye-witnesses of the lowliness as well as the glory of the
advent. Luke says: ‘And they came with haste and found
Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And
when they had seen it they made known abroad the saying
which was told them concerning this child. And all they
that heard it wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds.”
Meantime the days pass on. Joseph and Mary were
obedient to the laws of the land—though those laws
were made and administered by Romans—or they would
not have been in Bethlehem now. But they were also loyal
to the Lord God of Israel, and obedient to the law of Moses
and so it came to pass that after eight days Jesus was
brought into the Temple.
It is worth while to remember that Christ’s first jour-’
ney was to church. He was taken to church that he might
be made a son of Abrabam after the manner of the Jews,
and that he might receive his name. His name was called
256 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Jesus, the name assigned to him by the Angel Gabriel in the
vision of which Matthew speaks.
This name, Jesus, was not an uncommon one in Pales-
tine in those days. It was an adaptation of the name of the
great leader, Joshua, the successor of Moses, who completed
the work of God’s law-giver, and brought the children of
Israel into the promised land. The name really means—for
all Jewish names are full of meaning —‘“ Whose salvation is
Jehovah.” In a broader and wider sense, in the light of
Joshua’s illustrious career, the name came to mean ence a
‘“Deliverer.” So the ee in the vision says: “Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins.” The name of this wondrous child of Bethlehem is
now publicly announced for the first time. That common
name has become most uncommon now, all because Jesus of
Nazareth invested it with such divine meaning. It is now
the one immortal name. Men would think it sacrilege to
give that name to their children now. We call the children
David and Joshua, Daniel and Abraham and Paul, but not
Jesus! That name is too high, too sacred. Through twenty
centuries that name has been gathering strength and glory,
till at last the word of the Apostle has been realized and.
the name of Jesus is high above all other names that fall
from mortal lips!
The days pass on. One month more, and Jesus is
brought again to the Temple. This time it is for the service
of dedication. All souls are God’s. But from the very
dawn of ancient Judaism this doctrine was taught, that the
first-born son was God’s, in a sacred, special sense. From
the days of Hannah until this day, devout mothers the wide
world over have cherished the desire that thir first-born sons
might minister at God’s altar as Samuel did. The first
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 257
fruits of the garden, and the field, and the fold, were all
brought to God’s altar; so also were the first fruits of the
homes of Israel.
In obedience to this law, Mary comes with the appointed
offerings of a pair of turtle doves, and brings with her the
infant Jesus for presentation to the priest. Thus as an old
saint says: ‘The Lord of the Temple was brought to the
Temple of the Lord.”
And now another strange thing occurs to add to the
many wonders that have surrounded the advent of Jesus.
As Joseph and Mary were waiting in the Temple, a venera-
ble priest draws nigh. This was Simeon, a devout and holy
man, who filled his aged years with dreams and hopes of the
coming Messiah, and was, as Luke says, “ Waiting for the
consolation of Israel.” And it is further said that in some
way God had given his aged servant an assurance that he
should not see death until his weary eyes had gazed with
joy upon the face of the Messiah. As Simeon took Mary’s
child in his arms his eyes flashed with a radiant light, his
face glowed with wondering joy, and he blessed God, and
cried aloud with a voice that could be heard far and near in
the temple:
“ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
According to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation
Which thou hast prepared,
Before the face of all people:
A Light to lighten the Gentiles
And the glory of thy people Israel!”
Is it any wonder that Joseph and Mary marveled at
these words? Was this child in very deed to bring salva-
tion for all peoples? Was this little lamp of life, so strangely
lighted, to be a beacon-light for all the world? A light to
258 BOYS OF THE BIBLE
‘lighten not only Judea’s sacred fold, but the dwellers in all
Gentile lands! Was this month-old infant in the aged Sim-
eon’s arms to become “the glory of thy people Israel?”
Was this Jesus to become greater than Moses, or Aaron, or
David, or Solomon, or the prophets? While Joseph and
Mary stood silent in wondering amazement, the venerable
priest lifted his hand in benediction, and turning to Mary,
said:
“ Behold this child is set
For the fall and rising again of many in Israel
And for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also;
That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
What could all this mean? Did Joseph understand? Did
Mary comprehend? Perhaps not; but Mary laid these say-
ings up in her memory and her heart, and it may be, that
years afterwards, on that sad day when she returned, the
broken-hearted ‘‘mother of sorrows,” from the cross of her
dear son and Lord, she thought of the old priest’s words about
the sword piercing through her own soul.
Before they left the temple another voice was heard—
the voice of the aged prophetess Anna, who never left the
Temple day or night, but spent the time in fasting and prayer,
—she coming in while Simeon’s voice was lifted in benediction
“gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to
all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
The next event of startling interest that meets us in this
wondrous story is the visit of the Wise Men, who came from
the far East to Jerusalem, led by the radiant Star of Beth-
lehem, to worship the new-born King. ‘These Wise Men, or
Magi—who, like many others, owe all their fame to their.
association with Jesus—were probably Persian scholars or
astrologers who worshiped the light, and believed they were
THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR, 259
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 261
able to read important meanings and messages in the courses
of the stars. We do not know much about them, but we
know that in their days, and long before their time, men
believed and taught that the heavenly bodies had large influ-
ence over human character and destiny. They linked the
mystery of dreams with the wonders of the starry heavens.
Even to this day we have a relic of this superstition in such
phrases as being born “under happy stars.” There are many
curious and interesting legends concerning these Wise Men,
but most of them rest on very feeble foundations. The
general impression is that there were only three of these
Eastern sages. Some distinguished fathers and teachers of
the church of the third century, and subsequently, think
there were twelve. ‘The great church father of English: his-
tory, commonly called The Venerable Bede, who was born
in the year 673, offers some interesting details. He speaks
of these sages as very distinguished persons; but speaks of
three only, and thus describes them: ‘The oldest of the three
was an aged man with white hair and a long beard, whose
name was Melchior; Caspar was a ruddy beardless youth;
Balthasar was swarthy and in the prime of life.”
When these Wise Men, following the guidance of the
star, came to Jerusalem, they soon made their business known.
“Where is he,” they asked, “that is born King of the Jews?
for we have seen his star in the East, and have come to wor-
ship him.” It seems that all Jerusalem was stirred by the
strange but simple question of the Magi. Herod, the wickedest
of many wicked kings, was greatly disturbed, or, as Matthew
says, he was “troubled.” That is to say, he was restless,
worried, perplexed. He had no peace by day and little sleep
by night. But why should Herod, who had the mighty
power of Rome at his back, be so anxious and troubled
262 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
because of the birth of a peasant child at Bethlehem? Does
it not seem very stranger—a King on his throne trembling
at a little child in a cradle! Herod had led a cruel, wicked,
ungodly life. He was now old, and miserable, and savage.
He had been remorselessly cruel in his day, and cruel men
are often the greatest of cowards. So it was with Herod.
He felt as if his throne was trembling beneath him; his fears
became incarnate; his guilty conscience and his coward heart
made his life a living terror, a ceaseless dread!
Moreover, there had been a great deal of talk all over
Palestine, and in regions far beyond, of the coming of some
great one who should redeem the people from bondage, and
bring in the reign of truth, and righteousness, and peace.
Fishermen on the shores of Tiberias; shepherds on the hills
of Galilee; women by the fountains of Judea and the wells
of Samaria, and devout men and women in Jerusalem, who
were waiting and watching like Simeon in the Temple and
Nathaniel under his fig trees—for ‘the consolation of
Israel.” All were talking of “the coming one.” The world
was waiting and hoping for a King who should reign, not
by mere might or force; not by banners and sword, but by
truth, and righteousness, and love. It was when this talk
was on every lip, and expectation was on tip-toe, that the
Wise Men came and startled the King on his throne, and all
the people in the city, with their strange question: ‘‘ Where
is he that is born King of the Jews?” Was the King and
his Kingdom at hand? Had the desire of all nations really
appeared?
Jerusalem was roused as from a long, deep, sinful sleep;
the tottering coward-King called a convention of chief priests
and scribes, and leaders of the people, and demanded that
they should tell him where this King, Christ, was to be
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 263
born. Herod knew the Jews had faith in the prophecies of
their great seers. The rolls of the prophets were brought,
and after a diligent search through the brief prophecies of
Micah, one of the so-called minor prophets, who had been in
his grave more than seven hundred years, they came upon
these remarkable words:
“ But thou Bethlehem Ephratah,
Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of thee shall come forth unto Me,
Who is to be Ruler in Israel.
Whose goings forth have been from old
From everlasting!
* * * *
“And he shall stand and feed in the name of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God:
And they shall abide,
For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.”
It is hardly likely that Herod set much store by the
words of the prophets of Israel. But it is quite clear that
Herod was very much afraid. He was as crafty as he was
cruel. He began at once to plan and plot. He managed to
have a secret talk with these Persian astrologers, and
wanted to know of them particularly what time the star
appeared. We have no detailed record of the conversation
that took place between the King and the Wise Men. It
would appear, however, that the more he inquired the more
troubled he became. What the Wise Men had to say only
served to increase his anxiety. He felt quite sure that
there must be something of serious import in all these
strange circumstances. Instead of dismissing the whole
affair as the dream of superstitious men; instead of laughing
scornfully at the seriousness and earnestness of these wan-
derers from the East, he was determined to sift this thing
to the bottom, and so “he sent them to Bethlehem,” as
264 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Matthew tells us, and said, “Go and search diligently for
the young child, and when you have found him bring me
word again.”
Crafty and cunning in all his doings, Herod pretended
to be seriously interested in this matter. But the truth is,
he wanted to know the worst, while the Eastern sages
wanted to know the best.
Their conference with the King ended, these pilgrims
from afar started forth over the hills of Benjamin, to the
little town of Bethlehem. Great was their joy as, journeying
on, they saw the star that had cheered their previous wan-
derings, all ablaze in the glowing heavens. Its steadfast
light, its radiant beauty, was to them an assurance that they
had not journeyed in vain. With their eyes fixed upon its
gleaming splendor, they pursued their happy journey—
“O’er the dusty highway,
O’er the desert drear,
From the East the Wise Men
_ Watch it shining clear;
Asking, ‘Skall we follow
In this starlit way?’
Answering, ‘Yes; ’twill lead us
To the perfect day.’”
On they journeyed, and to their surprise and gladness,
the star seemed to stand still over the abode where Mary
and Joseph and the young child dwelt. They came at last
to the inn, and when we read of these men entering “the
house,” we like to think that part of the busy crowd who
had come to Bethlehem to be enrolled, had passed away to
their various homes, and that now Mary had more com-
fortable quarters; and that the infant Saviour had changed
his manger-cradle for a more appropriate resting place. Be
this as it may, one thing is clear—the lowliness of Christ’s
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 265
first earthly home had no painful influence on the minds of
the Wise Men. They did not pause to ask if one so lowly
born could be the King so long foretold. They held no
council to consider whether it was quite the proper thing to
give these costly presents—presents fit for a King in state—
to the child of a Galilean peasant.
They bowed in loyal worship, and then opening their
caskets, presented to him costly gifts—gold, frankincense and
myrrh! What did all this mean? It was surely not without
some distinct intention and meaning. There was what is
called “‘a grand symbolism” in these costly, precious things.
In those days gold was for the King, frankincense was for
the priest to wave in sacred fragrance before the altar of
God, and myrrh was for the suffering and sore distressed.
There was gold for the King—the King of this new and better
kingdom of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords;
there was frankincense for the Priest—the Priest of a better
covenant, the great High Priest of our profession, and there
was myrrh for the suffering Saviour, for the Man of Sor-
rows, for him who in the coming years was to become so
intimately acquainted with grief.
With what wondering eyes Mary would gaze upon these
strange, costly gifts! Not that she thought them too costly
or too rare. The world has not yet seen a mother who
thought any gift of earth or heaven too precious for the
darling that lay smiling on her knees. Mary looked and
wondered, and Joseph pondered too; and it is most probable
that the remarkable circumstances connected with this visit
impressed them much more than the mere costliness of the
gifts. That these great scholars of the distant East had
traveled so far, when traveling was so toilsome and tedious,
to gaze upon the face of her beloved Son, must have touche
266 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
the heart of Mary with joyous, pardonable pride; and as
Joseph saw these Wise Men bowed in worship, and then
adding to their personal homage these priceless gifts, no
marvel that he wondered more and more what these things
could mean, and whereunto these mysteries were tending.
The Magi’s work is ended. They sought and have
found this promised “King of the Jews;” they have bowed
low at his feet; they have left their gifts, and now they
pass forever from our sight. They drop silently from the
sacred history; their names are mentioned no more! Yet
their patient search, their loyal homage, their costly gifts, will
be remembered as long as this story of the life of Christ is
told.
And had they not high honor? It was theirs to be first
to bend the knee to the new-born King. The shepherds
worshiped, the Magi paid the homage due to the King.
They were permitted to inaugurate the Kingdom of our
Lord. Happy sages! with such hearts, such gifts, such
opportunities! And happy are we, who not having such
costly gifts to offer, may yet present to this King, now
crowned with many crowns, what he will value more than
gold, or frankincense, or myrrh—the gifts of a loving heart
and a consecrated life. As Reginald Heber sings—
“Say, shall we yield Him in costly devotion
Odors of Edom and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine?
“Vainly we offer each ample oblation;
Vainly with gold would his favor secure;
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.”
Why did not these Wise Men go back to Herod? He
had expressly instructed them to come back and tell him
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. ; 267
when they had found the young child, that he might also go
and pay his homage at the shrine of the new-born King.
How did these Wise Men know but that Herod was sincere,
and that he really wanted to join them in worshiping the
wonderful Child of Bethlehem? We are told that God
warned them in a dream that they should not go back to
Herod. God speaks by many voices, sometimes by the
mystic voice of a dream. Every pathway is open to God.
He walks along the open highway of our senses, and he
walks along the secret pathway of our dreams. Along this
mystic pathway God came and whispered in the ears of these
Wise Men. They heard and understood the message, and
without asking any reasons why, they became obedient. They
went back to their own country, but not by the way of
Jerusalem.
And Joseph also dreamed a dream.
It is very natural to suppose that Joseph and the Wise
Men had more than one long conversation about that remark-
able star-led pilgrimage that ended at Bethlehem. They
would tell how they came to start upon the journey; what
remarkable circumstances transpired as they journeyed on;
how they sometimes lost all heart as some passing cloud
eclipsed the radiance of the star, and how their courage grew
strong as the darkness passed away. They would be sure
to speak of the strange interest Herod had expressed, and
of his avowed intention to take the first opportunity to seek
the home and pay his homage to the infant King. If Joseph
knew much of Herod he would be sure to be very suspi-
cious of the meaning of this anxiety to offer worship; for if
this child of Bethlehem was born a King, would he not
be Herod’s successor? Herod’s name was so much linked
with cruelty and craftiness and bloodshed, that it was hard
15
268 ; BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
to think of him in an attitude of devotion. The whole
matter was very perplexing and probably disturbing to the
quiet, peaceful Galilean; and all the more so, viewed in
the light of the strange words of Simeon and Anna. In |
this frame of mind Joseph dreamed his dream, and lo! the
Angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: “ Arise,
and take the young child and his mother, and _ flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for
Herod will. seek the young child to destroy him.”
We judge by the way the story is told that there was no
delay in obeying the warning of the dream. Joseph believed
this dream was from God, and there was, therefore, no hesi-
tation. He was not going forth at a peradventure. It was
a divine voice that spoke to him. It was clear and defi-
nite. “Herod will seek the young child, to destroy it.”
Joseph now understood the craft of Herod in pretending a
desire to come and offer worship at the feet of Jesus; and
now he understood also, why the Wise Men were warned
to “depart into their own country another way.”
We may be sure Mary did not need much persuading.
She would gladly have fled through the most inclement
weather, over mountains and through deserts to the very
ends of the earth, to save her child from danger.
Few preparations were necessary, for this was not an
age of luxury, and Joseph and Mary were but peasants. In
the silence and secrecy of the night Joseph saddled his ass,
put Mary and the child Jésus thereon, and started for the
land of the Pharaoh’s and the Nile.
Of the sojourn of Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus
in the land of Egypt very little is known with certainty.
The scriptures are almost entirely silent on this subject, and
what is said by the Evangelist Matthew is marked by great
ee : ———————
THE JOURNEY INTO EGYPT, 269
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 271
simplicity. The lovers of the legendary and the fabulous
have enriched this period—brief as it was, even at the
longest—with the most remarkable stories of the miracles
that were wrought, and of the blessedness that flowed from
the simplest contact with the infant Lord.
How long these exiles remained in Egypt we are not
told. There is an old fountain on the outskirts of a little
town that was called Matarreeh, situated a few miles north-
east of Cairo, which is said to indicate the spot where the
holy family dwelt during their sojourn in Egypt. What of
truth there is in this story we cannot tell. As to the length
of that sojourn, the general impression accepted by those
who have made this subject a matter of the most careful
study, is that it did not extend beyond two years; and when
we remember the Jewish mode of reckoning, the time would
be reduced so as to mean parts of two years, rather than
two whole years. Christ’s days in Egypt were days of
unconscious infancy. If he had dwelt long enough in Egypt
to have gathered memories and recollections, we should
probably have found some references in the years of his
public ministry. But as an infant Jesus left the land of his
birth to escape. the wrath of the King, and as an infant in
the arms of his gentle mother, he comes back to Palestine,
and finally to Nazareth, the scene of his happy, peaceful boy-
hood. .
Of that terrible massacre of the innocents, that has made
so deep and sad an impression on the heart of the world,
there is only space to say a little here, and this we quote
from the scholarly and eloquent Archdeacon Farrar. ‘The
flight into Egypt led to a very memorable event. Seeing
that the wise men had not returned to him, the alarm and
jealousy of Herod assumed a still darker and more malignant
272 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
aspect. He had no means of identifying the royal infant of
the seed of David, and least of. all would he have been
likely to seek for him in the cavern stable of the village
Khan. But he knew that the child whom the visit of the
Magi had taught him to regard as a future rival of himself
or of his house, was yet an infant at the breast; he issued
his fell mandate to slay all the male children of Bethlehem
and its neighborhood ‘from two years old and under.” Of
the method by which the decree was carried out we know
nothing. The children may have been slain secretly, gradu-
ally, and by various forms of murder; or, as has been
generally supposed, there may have been one single. hour of
dreadful butchery. The decrees of tyrants like Herod are
usually involved in a deadly obscurity. They reduce the
world into a torpor in which it is hardly safe to speak
above a whisper. But the wild wail of anguish which rose
from the mothers thus cruelly robbed of their infant children
could not be hushed; and they who heard it might well
imagine that Rachel, the great ancestress of their race,
whose tomb stands by the roadside about a mile from Beth-
lehem, once more—as in the pathetic image of the prophet—
mingled her voice with the mourning and lamentation of
those who wept so inconsolably for their. murdered little
ones.”
Doubts have been cast by certain writers on the truth-
fulness of the awful story; and, indeed, we could well wish
this dreadful record were not true. To us, in these later,
happier years of the world’s history, it seems almost impos-
sible to believe that such inhuman cruelties could have been
performed. But this shameful deed is just the kind of thing
Herod was sure to do, if these hapless, helpless innocents
stood in the way of his pride or power. Herod’s whole
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 273
career was red with the blood of many murders. He mas-
sacred priests and nobles; he caused Aristobulus, his brother-in-
law, a young man full of hope and promise, to be drowned in
pretended sport before his very eyes. His sons, his uncle,
his kinsmen, and his most intimate friends, Dosistheus and
Gadius, all in turn drank to the dregs the cup of his fierce
anger; and even his wife, the beautiful Armonzan princess
Mariamne, the only human being he ever seemed to care for,
was put to the awful death of strangulation by his own
distinct orders. The plea of the gray-haired sire, the cry of
helpless infancy, were all the same to the wicked, cruel
Herod. The slaughter of the innocents was a thing this
monster could order to. be done, and then sleep soundly
while the dreadful thing was being done. But oh, the sad-
hearted mothers of Bethlehem! how loud their wailing!
how bitter their tears! Thus was brought to pass that
which was spoken by the prophet Jeremy, saying: “In
Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping,
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and
would not be comforted because they are not.”
It will interest boys to know that all sorts of remark-
able legends arose in the early Christian centuries, about the
wonderful miracles wrought by the infant Jesus in this brief
sojourn in Egypt. Idols are made to fall down before him;
wild beasts come forth to worship him; trees bud and bloom
at his very presence; robpers yield up their ill-gotten gains;
a poor man who has been changed intoa mule by the evil spirits
of the time, is turned into a man again. Then comes quite a
charming legend of mercy vouchsafed to a young Egyptian
bride, who, on the very morning of the day set apart for her
marriage—the day which should have been the happiest. of
all her glad young life—was smitten with dumbness through
274 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
the arts of Satan, and the wicked work of plotting enchanters.
The lips that should have been merry with songs and
delights, without a moment's warning were struck with an
awful silence. She could not speak of her love! She could
not even tell her sorrow! The little town that had been all
astir with gladness in the morning, was full of gloom before
the noontide blazed upon its hills; for all through the East,
in these far-away times, the joys and the sorrows of these
small communities were common. All the town went forth
with songs and dancing at the sound of marriage bells, just
as the whole town went forth with sorrow when the dirge
of the mourners was heard. And so it came to pass, as the
legend goes, that when the Lady Mary entered the little
town conveying her son, the Lord Christ, the dumb bride
saw him, and stretched forth her hands toward the infant
Saviour, and drew him to her, and took him in her arms,
and embraced him closely and kissed him, and bending,
over him she rocked him to and fro, and forthwith the
bond of her tongue was loosed, and her ears were opened
—tor she had been deaf as well as dumb—and she gave
praise and thanks to God for that he had restored her to
health.
These and many other legends only serve to show how in
earlier years there was a great tendency to surround the history
of Jesus with the most wonderful stories. Nothing, indeed, can
be more wonderful than the narrative, as given in the sacred
text, of the Holy Child in his twelfth year disputing with the
Doctors of the Sanhedrim in the Temple.
Let us now journey on to Nazareth, where Jesus spent
his holy, happy youth.
That large-hearted, gentle poet of the Sierras—so gentle
and yet so strong—our own Joaquin Miller, spent a great deal
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 275
of time in the early home of Jesus. He shall speak to us of
Nazareth :—
“Nazareth is a wooded town. The very name means
‘woods.’ Maybe it was the woods that kept me there so
long and made me love this home of the Lord Jesus Christ
so tenderly.
“There is a fountain in the middle of the dusty and deso-
late old town, which is still called ‘The Virgin’s Fountain.’
Camels groan and kneel, and kneel and groan all around
here, up and down the narrow streets, dusty asses are here,
going and coming with loads of wood, jars of oil, and a
thousand queer old pots and pans and camp ware of
the half-gypsy wanderers who have been roving up and
down the land, no doubt, ever since Moses led them up out
of Egypt.
“But the sublimest time is the twilight here. Doves fly
down in couples as the sun falls suddenly, and stretch their
glossy necks to steal some stray drop of water from the foun-
tain; and then, as the twilight deepens, there comes, as if
companioned by the majesty of night, a dark-eyed daughter
of Israel, or maybe Ishmael, her jar poised on her upturned
palm, her great eyes down in maiden modesty. And then
another comes, and then another, till the fountain is set about
with the most glorious statuary that ever stood in school of
art or temple. The pictures of the Bible have all stepped
out for a moment. Twenty Rebekah’s at the well, and not
a single Isaac, or even a ‘man servant’ in sight.
“J was living in Nazareth, a good many years ago, when
an old man asked me one sweet spring morning to lay my
ear to the ground and listen to what I might hear.
“ There was a dull, soft, far-away sound, not much unlike
the thrumbing of a grouse in a fir-tree high up on the wooded
276 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
hills of Oregon. Only this sound here at Nazareth was softer,
and too, it seemed not so monotonous.
‘The sound, heard only at rare intervals, and when the
wind lay very low, was at first very faint, and very soft and
doubtful. But after a while I heard a heavier and a harder
stroke. Then the two would blend together and then finally
be lost, to be lifted up to the thick tangle of foliage by the
roadside, which hung in festoons above and about us, where
the doves sat and sang, or the bluebird flitted along in a line
of sapphire.
‘But in the morning, if the morning is still, and warm
and pleasant, go out on the hills and listen. Listen and
believe, and you will hear the low, soft and almost pathetic
monotony of sound of which I have spoken.
‘“* And what does it all mean?’ I at last asked of the
half-naked old son of Syria, who had constituted himself my
guide and only companion.
“He put a whole pile of dirty fingers to his thin, brown
lips, and would not answer. But as spring advanced, day
after day we went on the wooded hills to catch the sound.
Sometimes, not often, however, we were rewarded, for in
Nazareth, as well as elsewhere, there are cloudy days, and
days of wind and storm.
‘But to cut the story short, as I was about to Icave
this holiest place on earth to one who loves the woods and
believes in God, the ragged old follower led me once more
up to the hills to lay my ear for the last time to the bosom
of the earth. I never heard the sound so distinctly before.
“What can it mean?’
‘The old man crept close and whispered in his wild and
broken way: ‘The loom! It is Mary at her loom; and
then the carpenter’s hammer.’
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 277
“You understand? Then let it go at that. But it then
and there seemed to me as the most beauteous thought, the
most entirely pathetic thing on all this earth, to feel that
through eighteen hundred years there still echoed the sound
of Mary’s loom and the stroke of the carpenter’s hammer!
“And I thought if I could teach the toiling world that
Mary still leans to hear the loom, that Christ is still in some
sort a carpenter, I might, maybe, bridge over the awful gulf
of infidelity and lead the world to redemption.
“But even if I could teach each laborer the dignity of
his labor, show him how God worked at a trade, how the
echo of the hammer is still heard—if I could only teach one
poor, broken-hearted old woman, bending to her toil, that Mary
toiled the same way, why that would be glory—glory enough
and enough of good.”
Only a poet could tell such a sweet, pathetic story, and
draw from it so gracious a lesson.
One of the best views of the city is to be had from the
Campanile of the Church of the Annunciation. In the dis-
tance is the brow of the hill to which Jesus was led by the
enraged multitude who attempted to throw him from it. A
modern house in the foreground brings to mind the time
when they uncovered the roof and let down the bed whereon
the sick of the palsy lay. This must be very much the
same kind of house as that historical one at Capernaum.
There is the peculiar roof, and there are the outside stairs
leading to the roof. The Eastern householder makes his roof
serve for more than a protection from the weather. It is
the piazza, the quiet place of the dweller, and sometimes it
becomes his summer residence. As a rule it is not very
heavy or very strong. Rafters are thrown across from wall
to wall, say a yard apart; then the whole space is covered
278 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
with twigs such as we saw the woman selling in the market-
place. On these the slender limbs of trees are thrown and
thickly coated with mortar. Lastly, a thick spread of earth
is thrown on, rolled to a level, and oftentimes sown with
grass seed.
Thus by care many of the roofs become as smooth and
soft as a machine-mown lawn. They may be easily broken
up and anything lowered inside from above. By some
such process the four bearers of the poor palsied man man-
aged to enlist the attention of the Great Physician in behalf
of their friend. It is not hard to understand it all when
viewing such a house as this one at Nazareth. It would not
be difficult for four men to carry a lame friend in a ham-
mock by the outer stairway up to the roof, and, breaking
through, let him down into the apartment or court below.
Not far from this same house, in a narrow street, is a
little chapel erected upon the site of Joseph’s carpenter shop.
Over the altar is a picture representing Mary and Joseph
instructing Jesus, and finding that he knew more than they.
Another painting represents the lad Jesus assisting his father
at work. It contains no accessories of the carpenter’s shop,
but there are enough of them in the shops close by.
The web-saw, the glue-pot, the plane and the hammer, are
the principal tools used in such shops, all without the mod.
ern improvements. Yet whatever the Palestine carpenter
produces is from the fragrant cedars of Lebanon or from
the eccentrically knotted and gnarled olive wood. The opera-
tion of bargaining and waiting for any article of wood to
come from a Palestine carpenter shop is a lengthy one.
Articles of wood are a luxury there, and when a carpenter
receives an order for one he usually employs the next three
days of his life in soliciting the congratulations of his friends
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 279
upon his wonderful good fortune in receiving “an order for
something made of wood.”
And now shall we look for a little into that peaceful,
blessed home in Nazareth? Joseph, the carpenter, is probably
a man of mature years. Of Mary, the mother of Jesus, not
much is known, but all that is known endears her to the
heart of the world. She was the blessedest among women,
for she was the mother of the world’s Redeemer, and she
became the saddest of all the daughters of men—the Mother
of Sorrows—for, with bowed head and breaking heart, she
saw her son, and Saviour, and Lord crowned with thorns and
nailed to the cross of shame.
And yet those early days at Nazareth must have been
very blessed days—Joseph at work in the carpenter’s shop;
Mary at the loom, spinning flax and wool for the family
while the baby slept, or taking him in her arms and rocking
him to sleep, just as your mothers have rocked you to sleep
in their arms a thousand times.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning draws a touching picture of
just such a scene, and puts these sweet, motherly words in
Mary’s mouth—
“Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One!
My flesh, my Lord!—What name?—I do not know
A name that seemeth not too high or low—
Too far from me or Heaven.
My Jesus, that is best! that word being given
By the majestic angel whose command
Was softly, as a man’s beseeching, said,
When I and all the earth appeared to stand
In the great overflow
Of light celestial from his wings and head—
Sleep, sleep, my Saving One!
“ And art Thou come for saving, baby-browed
And speechless Being—art Thou come for saving?
The palm that grows beside our door is bowed
By treadings of the low wind from the South,
280 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
A restless shadow through the chamber waving;
Upon its boughs a bird sings in the sun;
But Thou, with that close slumber on thy mouth,
Doth seem of wind and sun already weary;
Art come for saving?
O my Weary One!
“We sate among the stalls at Bethlehem
The dumb kine from their fodder turning them
Softened their horned faces,
To almost human gazes,
Towards the newly born!
The simple shepherds from the star-lit brooks
Brought visionary looks
As yet in their astonished hearing rung
The strange sweet angel-tongue.
The Magi of the East in sandals worn
Knelt reverent, sweeping round,
With long pale beards, their gifts upon the ground,
The incense, myrrh and gold,
These baby hands were impotent to hold,
So let all earthlies and celestials wait
Upon Thy royal state!
Sleep, sleep, my Kingly One!
As yet, while mystery upon mystery crowded upon the
heart and mind of Mary, we well may hope the shadow of
the cross. had not fallen upon the home of Nazareth. A
blessed, happy, holy time that must have been, as Jesus grew
from infancy to childhood and from childhood to his bright
boyhood. We see the child playing about the house by the
open door, charmed with every bird that sings and every flower
that blooms. We see him on his mother’s knee learning
his letters, or listening to her simple stories, or bending at
her knee to repeat his morning and evening prayer.
Desiring to cherish the deepest reverence of spirit, we
cannot help thinking of the boy Jesus as a real human boy,
The learned men who make the creeds, speak of Jesus as
“Very God of very God,” and we know that he was “very
man of very man.” May we not with reverence think of
a
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 281
him as “very boy of very boy,” if by such a phrase we
may make clearer the thought that Jesus was but a prodigy,
not a precious, phenomenal, wonderful boy; but a real boy,
one amongst ten thousand, if you will, but still a real boy,
as we were boys, or as you are boys; simple, natural, looking
forward to his play time, and loving his play with joys and sor-
rows such as all boys know. Surely this must be so, for if it
were otherwise, how could Jesus sympathize with boys and
help them and bless them if he had never been a real boy.
-It may be if we had lived in Nazareth two thousand
years ago, we should not have marked any great difference
between Jesus and other young Nazarenes, save by, perhaps,
a special sweetness in his looks, or tenderness in his man-
ners, and sometimes a quiet thoughtfulness somewhat unusual
in one so young. That familiar line,
“Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,”
may be an almost perfect description of him.
It is almost certain that the boys who look into this
pook will often have wondered what sort of a boy Jesus was,
so far as his personal appearance was concerned. Such won-
dering is not to be condemned as mere idle curiosity.
Everything concerning Jesus Christ from his cradle to his
cross, should be of deep interest to us. ©
But as to this matter of personal appearance we are
left almost wholly in the dark. Of course there are some
general characteristics that we may reasonably fancy belonged
to him as a Jewish boy. We are easily able to distinguish
between a German boy and an Italian boy and a genuine
young American. And when we find out what the boys of
northern Palestine were like, we may form some idea of
what Jesus was.
282 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
But there are no reliable portraits of Christ either as
man or boy that will render us any valuable aid in this
matter. All the pictures of Christ the world possesses are
imaginary pictures, and they are for the most part very,
very unsatisfactory. They do not inspire reverence. You
may go through all the picture galleries of Europe, and you
will see hundreds of portraits of popes and madonnas and
saints, but you will hardly find a dozen pictures of Christ,
as man, or boy, or child, that will command your reverence,
or awaken your homage for the Saviour of mankind.
It is perhaps quite as well that there is no authentic
portrait of Jesus. Foolish people would quarrel about it,
superstitious people worship it, and in many ways it might
be the cause or occasion of infinite mischief. It is best as it
is. We may give full play to our dreaming thoughts, and
we may think of him joyfully as “the fairest among ten
thousand, and altogether lovely,” or we may think of him
sadly as “the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” as
one whose face was “marred more than the face of any
man.”
It may be interesting to boys, nevertheless, to be told
of a remarkable record that was found in the fly-leaf of an
old Bible printed in the University of Oxford, England, in
the year 1679. This record is concerning the personal
appearance of Jesus Christ, and goes on to tell of a custom
common with the Roman governors of Judea, by which they
kept the senate and government at Rome well informed con-
cerning all important events. One of these letters sent to
the senate of Rome by Publius Lentulus in the days of
Tiberius Cesar, is said to have been largely concerned about
this new Prophet of Truth, and so, while not setting much
value upon it, we give that portion of the letter that refers
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 283
to Jesus, because it cannot fail to interest the boys who read
this book. ;
Here then is what Publius Lentulus is said to have
written in his regular report to the senate at Rome:
‘“‘Conscript Fathers: There appeared in these, our days,
a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is now living
amongst us;.of the Gentiles he is accepted as a Prophet of
Truth; but his own disciples call him the Son of God. He
raiseth the dead and cureth all manner of diseases. A man
of stature somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend
countenance, such as beholders may both love and fear. His
hair is of the color of a filbert fully ripe, plain to the ears,
whence downward it is more orient of color, somewhat curled
and waved about his shoulders. In the midst of his head is
a seam or partition of his hair, after the manner of the
Nazarites. His forehead is smooth and delicate; his face
without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a comely red; his
nose and mouth exactly formed; his beard thick, the color
of his hair, not of any great length, but forked; his look
innocent; his eyes grey, clear and quick; in reproving ter-
rible; in administering, courteous; in speaking, very modest
and wise; in proportion of body, well shaped. None have
ever seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep; a man
for his singular beauty surpassing the children of men.”
This may not be an authentic letter, it may not be a.
faithful portrait of Jesus, but it gives a more ennobling
impression of the gentle Nazarene than any or all of the
pictures artists have put on canvas. ?
If we cannot know with perfect accuracy concerning the
personal appearance of Jesus when in his strange but happy
boyhood he wandered up and down, drinking in the golden
beauty of the Nazarene hills, or plying axe and hammer in
284 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Joseph’s busy shop, or sitting by his mother’s side as the
daylight faded, we may form some worthy idea of what he
was like by a study of the habits and characteristics of the
Galilean boys of that far-away time. In this matter one of
America’s noblest and ablest writers comes to our aid.
General Lew Wallace, whose delightful book called
“Ben Hur” has won for its author world-wide fame, and is
worthy to be read by every boy in America, has endeavored
to draw a picture of what he supposes Jesus was like when
a boy in Nazareth. He thinks of him as a small, slender,
growing lad. ‘His attire was simple; on his head a white
kerchief, held in place by a cord, one corner turned under
at the forehead, the other corners loose. A tunic also white,
covered him from neck to knees, girt at the waist. His
arms and legs were bare; on his feet were sandals of the
most primitive kind, being soles of ox-hide attached to the
ankles by leather straps. He carried a stick much taller
than himself. The boy’s face comes to me clearly. I imag-
ine him by the roadside on a rock which he has climbed
that he may the better see the winding, picturesque country
at his feet. His head is raised. The light of an intensely
brilliant sun is upon his countenance, which in general cast
is oval and delicate. Under the folds of the kerchief I see
the forehead, covered by a mass of projecting, sunburned,
blonde hair, which the wind has taken liberties with and has
tossed into tufts. The eyes are in shade, leaving a doubt
whether they are brown or violet like his mother’s; they
are at least large, and clear and beautiful. The nose is
of regular inward curve, joined prettily to a short upper lip.
The mouth is small, and open slightly, so that through the
scarlet freshness of the lips I catch a glimpse of white teeth.
The cheeks are ruddy and round, and only a certain square-
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 285
ness of chin tells how the years have passed since the
Magi laid their treasures at his feet. Putting face and fig-
ure together, and mindful of the attitude of interest in what
is passing before him, the lad as I see. him standing on the
rock, is at once both handsome and attractive.”
Of all the modern pictures of the Saviour, after his
pensive boyhood had passed to more pathetic manhood, the
picture of Gustave Dore, is in many respects the most
remarkable. The artist represents Jesus as descending from
the judgment hall. The whole situation is most impressive.
The trial is over, Jesus is condemned and he starts forth on
that brief journey that is to end amid the glooms that gather
round the brow of Calvary. He is dressed in a white robe
falling to his feet. His whole aspect is that of perfect peace.
A divine calm sits upon that brow, so soon to be girt with
thorns. ‘The hands that are for appeal, or, if needs be, for
defense, fall within the folds of the white samite robe. As the
lamb to the slaughter, so silently and unresistingly he com-
mences that sad march to the cross. There are jeering foes
and weeping friends around. The disciples are there, and
the mother he loved so well. As you sit and drink in the
manifold lessons of the picture, you cannot fail to note that
Jesus is not largely influenced in this hour, either by the
mockery of his foes, or the sorrows of his friends. He is
absorbed in some more commanding consideration. He hears
other voices above the din and turmoil of that scene; those
calm eyes penetrate through the present to the centuries yet to
be. The passion of the cross is upon him. But “for the
joy that is set before him,” he endures nobly, royally,
divinely. It is impossible to sit for an hour and look at this
wonderful picture without having your reverence for the
character of Jesus of Nazareth broadened and deepened.
16
286 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
We have already referred to the legends that attributed
such remarkable doings to Jesus, when an unconscious infant
in Egypt. If those legends were absurd, much more absurd
and clumsy are the legends that have been invented of the
period of his boyhood.
Boys will do well to remember this always, that through
all the public ministry of Jesus, he never wrought a miracle
that was not a dignified and merciful use of power. He
never did a wonderful thing for the mere sake of astonish-
ing people. That would have been vulgar, and because
vulgar, un-Christlike. All sorts of foolish miracles are said by
these legends to have been wrought by Jesus when a boy.
Such for example as carrying water in a robe, and causing
some boys who angered him to become blind, or making a
board longer that was too short. These legends are too
foolish for a moment’s serious attention. One simple legend
about Jesus and the children of Nazareth making clay spar-
rows is so pleasantly told, that we are sure boys will be
glad to read it:—
I like that old, old legend
Not found in holy writ,
And wish that John or Matthew
Had made Bible out of it.
How the little Jewish children,
Upon a summer’s day,
Went down across the meadows
2 With the child Christ to play.
‘And in the gold green valley,
Where low the reed grass lay,
They made them mock mud sparrows
Out of the meadow clay.
So when they all were fashioned,
And ranged in rows about,
“Now,” said the little Jesus
We'll let the birds fly out.
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 287
Then all the happy children,
Did call and coax and cry,
Each to his own mud sparrow
“Fly as I bid you! fly!”—
But earthen were the sparrows,
And earth they did remain,
Except the one bird only
The little Christ had made.
Softly he leaned and whispered.
“Fly up to heaven, fly!” —
And swift his little sparrow
Went soaring to the sky.
And silent all the children,
Stood awe-struck looking on,
*Till deep into the heavens
The bird of earth had gone.
I like to think for playmate,
We have the Lord-Christ still,
And that above our weakness
He works his mighty will.
That all our little playthings,
Of earthen hopes and joys,
Shall be by His commandment
Changed into heavenly toys.
Our souls are like the sparrows,
Imprisoned in the clay:—
Bless Him who came to give them wings
To soar to heaven’s bright day.
If we call to mind the words of Jesus, spoken in after
years, the matchless parables he uttered, we shall be able to
see what kind of an observing boy he was.
Almost all those parable-sermons take us back to his
early, happy days in Nazareth. How he loved the flocks
and fields, how he pitied the wandering sheep, and perhaps
went many a time with some gentle Nazarene shepherd in
search of the lost sheep and bleating lambs that had escaped
288 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
the fold. He had gone out many a time with the farmer as
he went forth with his basket of seed; he had seen some fall in
the deep, rich furrows, some by the wayside, some amongst
stones, and some had been picked up almost as soon as sown,
by the busy, hungry birds. Then how he had watched the
growth of the corn, first the blade, then the ear, then the
full corn in the ear! He watched his mother making bread,
and in the yard he marked the motherly hen, gathering
chickens under her wing. ‘The lilies of the field had charms
for him—toiling not, spinning not—and yet more beautiful
than Solomon in all his glory. All Nature in all her mani-
fold grace and in every mood won his young heart and
enchained his thought. He watched the changing beauty of
sky and cloud, or climbing the hills of Nazareth, heard
the wind blowing where it listed, but could not tell whence
it came or whither it went. He watched the children at
their play, some in mournful dirge, and some with merry
dance as at a wedding festival. Perchance that parable of
the Prodigal Son, the grandest parable the world has ever
heard, or will ever hear, was but a reproduction of some
page of Nazarene history—some such sin-weary penitent he
may have known in those early days; he may have been
present at such merry-making, when the wanderer returned
to receive the father’s loving welcome, and the fatted calf
was killed. We see him on the Sabbath walking by his
mother’s side to the synagogue, we hear his young, sweet
voice singing the psalms of David, or repeating the prayers
of ancient Israel. So amid the quietude of these Galilean
hills and vales, the boy Jesus was nurturing his soul for the
after years, when
“Cold mountains and the midnight air
Should witness the fervor of his prayer.”
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 289
So Jesus, we are told, increased in wisdom and in stature,
and in favor with God and men.
And now comes the eventful year—eventful to every
Jewish boy, and especially eventful to Jesus. It was probably
the custom of the parents of Jesus to visit Jerusalem once a
year at the great feast, and Jesus being twelve.years of age
is taken to Jerusalem for his solemn dedication. Tens of
thousands of people went to this feast. What an experience
for this boy, whose days had all been in the quietude of his
Galilean home! The long journey of eighty miles comes to
an end, and at last Jerusalem is reached. Who shall say
what emotions filled the heart and mind of Jesus as he gazed
on David’s royal city, and saw the Temple of God with its
marble colonnades and its roof of glittering gold? The feast
lasted a week, and then the crowds returned to their farms,
and fields, and vineyards, and to the peacefulness of their
homes.
But there was sad consternation in the hearts of Joseph
and Mary, for Jesus could nowhere be found. To miss a boy
of twelve in so great a throng was not so remarkable; but
who shall picture the anxiety of Joseph or the agony of Mary?
They search, but search in vain. Through street and by-way,
in and out the narrow courts they wander, up and down—still
no sight of Jesus; till, last of all, they turn their footsteps to
the Temple, and there they find him—calm, peaceful, self-pos-
sessed—in the august presence of the great doctors of the law.
There he sat, hearing and asking questions. We are sure
he asked his questions modestly; and these grave Rabbis
must have wondered at this young student. As the Bible
tells us, they were astonished at his wisdom. How much
more astonished would these venerable masters of Israel have
been if they could have pierced through the veil of the com-
290 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
ing years!—if they could have foreseen that the Lord of the
‘Temple was indeed in their midst! ;
How sorrowful, and yet how glad, was Mary when she
found her darling boy! And perhaps she was not a little proud
when she saw how greatly interested these great teachers
were in all the boy was saying. Touching him gently on the
shoulder, with a look full of tenderness, but half reproachful,
she said:
‘““My child, why dost thou treat us thus? See, thy
father and I were seeking thee with aching hearts.”
And in the wonderful answer Jesus gave, we have the
first recorded words of the Redeemer of men.
“Why is it that ye were seeking me? Did ye not
know that I must be about my Father’s business?”
It may be that we shall never sound the fathomless
depths of meaning in these words. But we may understand ~
them well enough to hold them precious and to realize that
the first secorded words of Jesus, strike the keynote of his
glorious life. From this hour of sacred consecration in the
Temple, to that solemn hour, when amid the awful gloom of
Calvary, Jesus uttered the cry, “It is finished!” Jesus was
ever about his Father’s business.
And now Jesus returns to Nazareth. For eighteen or
nineteen peaceful years, he works and prays, and prepares
himself for the sublime destiny that awaits him.
The first recorded words of Jesus are good words for
boys to take as the motto for their lives—“I must be about
my Father’s business.”
God has a “business” for us all. For Joseph and for
David, for Jeremiah and Ezekiel, for Daniel and his friends,
and for every boy who reads these pages. Our lives are
ours for happy, holy service; our hearts for gentle, loving
TT 1s FINISHED,” 291
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 293
impulses; our hands for honorable, helpful toil. To live, to
love, to serve—these are purposes for which we are here.
An aimless life, a selfish life, does not answer the purpose
of being. Happy are they who, in the first fresh beauty of
life’s morning, take for the motto of all their days and years
the one grand sentence of the boyhood of Jesus:
“T must be about my Father’s business.”
Who is this lad in Nazareth town,
So true at his work, with saw and p.ane?
His brow wears a smile, and never a frown,
And his mother smiles back to him again.
His name, they tell us, is—Jesus.
Let’s get acquainted with Jesus:
’ Twill help in our heavy tasks of work;
’ Twill help to be true and never to shirk—
If we get acquainted with Jesus.
By the fountain, now, who is this lad
With the bounding step and the skillful hand,
In play so merry, so gentle, so glad?
And loving playmates around him stand.
His name, they tell us, is—Jesus.
Let’s get acquainted with Jesus!
"Twill add to the joy of our merry play,
’ Twill help to be gentle as well as gay—
If we get acquainted with Jesus.
Who is this lad, in the Lord’s own house?
His eyes are watching the altar-fire;
His voice joins sweet in the solemn vows;
His heart grows warm with strong desire.
His name, they tell us, is—Jesus.
Let’s get acquainted with Jesus!
’Twill help us to worship aright in God’s house,
’ Twill help us to join in the solemn vows—
If we get acquainted with Jesus.
With the gray-haired teachers I see him now,
“At his Father’s work.” With glad, sweet face,
The heart of the Holy Word he would know;
So he asks, and answers, with modest grace.
His name, they tell us, is —Jesus.
294
BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
Let's get acquainted with Jesus!
* Twill help, from the Book of Books, so plain,
The blessed gift of the truth to gain—
If we get acquainted with Jesus.
What youth is this, who to man’s estate
Goes forth? There's a joy before his eyes;
He will suffer sore for a joy so great:
For that joy will abide, though ke bleeds and dies!
His name, they tell us, is—Jesus.
Let's get acquainted with Jesus!
> Twill help us to live—if need be, to die—
That others may live with God on high—
If we get acquainted with Jesus.
And oh, who is this, who in robes of light
Now walks in the midst of the holy, above?
While nevermore ceaseth the song of delight
Which praises the Prince of Life and Love!
The angels tell us, ‘tis Jesus.
Let's get acquainted with Jesus!
For oh, we shall rise and reign with Him
And join in the song of the seraphim—
lf we get acquainted with Jesus!
—F. KB. Nutting.
XVII.
Tue Lap wiITH THE LOAVES AND FISHES.
“There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes; but
what are they among so many?” —Fohn v1. 9.
O what can little hands do
To please the King of heaven?
The little hands some work may try
To help the poor in misery—
Such grace to mine be given!
O what can little lips do
To please the King of heaven?
The little lips can praise and pray,
And gentle words of kindness say —
Such grace to mine be given!
O what can little hearts do
To please the King of heaven?
Our hearts, if God his Spirit send,
Can love and trust their Saviour-Friend—
Such grace to mine be given!
Though small is all that we can do
To please the King of heaven;
When hearts and hands and lips unite
To serve the Saviour with delight,
Then perfect grace is given.
Some of the most interesting personages of Scripture
appear for a moment before our vision, then pass away for-
ever from our view. The three Sages of the Orient, for
example, present their gifts of gold, and frankincense, and
myrrh, to the infant Christ and then pass silently away. We
catch one glimpse of the thankful face of the woman who
295
296 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
touched the hem of Christ’s garment and was healed, and
we see her no more. What became of the daughter of
Jarius, into whose eyes Jesus called again the light of life?
Of many of whom we would gladly know the most, we
know the least.
The world knows comparatively nothing of its best and
noblest men and women and _ children—
“They have no place in storied page,
No rest in marble shrine;
They have passed and gone with a buried age,
They died and made no sign—
But work, that shall have its wages yet,
And deeds that our God will not forget,
Done for the love divine.”
The Evangelist John presents a beautiful picture in the
early pages of his gospel, a picture full of happy teachings.
It is springtime on the shores of Galilee. The waves of the
lake are as blue as the sky, and the hillsides are clad in the
first vernal splendors of the year. The fame of Jesus of.
Nazareth has spread far and wide, and thousands are fol-
lowing him to hear his wonderful words and to gaze upon
his mighty acts. On this occasion there were about five
thousand of these pilgrims; and Christ, who cared for the
body as well as for the soul, for the heart as well as for
the mind, looked upon the great flock in the desert, and,
with the true instinct of the Great Shepherd, thought how
hungry they must be.
Turning to Philip, Jesus says: “The crowds are very
hungry; they must be fed or they will faint.”
To this Philip replies in amazement: “ What can we do?
It would take more than a thousand loaves of bread that these
men might have only a little each!” And then attention is
turned to such resources as they have.
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 297
“There is a lad here with five barley loaves and two
small fishes, but what are they among so many?” With
what followed we are all familiar. The basketful of food
became a banquet for the multitudes. The people sat
down in happy companies on the fresh-springing grass, and
Jesus blessed the meal.
“* Twas seed-time when he blessed the bread,
’ Twas harvest when he brake.”
Who was this lad who carried the basket of bread and
fishes?
Searching through the note-books of an old fellow-stu-
dent, who had spent some years in travel through Greece,
Egypt and the Holy Land, partly in search of health and
partly from love of travel, but who died all too soon, an
interesting story —half story, half legend—concerning this very
lad of the gospel record presents itself. The student in
question spent some months on the shores of Galilee during
the fishing season, and although, as he says in his journal, he
was pained to find that the sacred memories that ought to
cling forever about the shores and waters of Galilee are fast
dying out, and such as remain are generally made the medium
of extorting money from the too credulous visitor, yet here
and there he met a man or woman who kept these memories
green for love of Him who trod these shores and hushed the
noisy tempest to an abiding calm.
One old fisherman he found who had quite a store of
legends of the days of Christ, and who seemed to know every
spot of interest in that deeply interesting region. One day
this fisherman took the traveler to Cana, where the wedding
feast was held at which Jesus was present. After pointing
out certain supposed relics of that memorable occasion, he
298 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
took him to the home of the descendant of an old Jewish
Rabbi who was possessed of a treasure known as “ Ben
Ezra’s Basket.”
Old Lemuel Ezra set great store by this treasure, as
was manifested by the care he took of it. He had a beau-
tiful box of polished olive wood inlaid with silk, in which he
kept this basket, which was a plain, strong, common basket
about two feet long, eighteen inches wide, and about eight
inches deep. But what made this plain, common basket so
precious in the sight of Lemuel Ezra? It was said to be the
identical basket that his honored ancestor, Ben Ezra, carried
when a boy, in his wanderings with his Uncle Philip and the
other followers of Jesus Christ. According to the old man’s
story, Ben Ezra was the only son of Miriam, the sister of
Philip, and she was a widow. Very early in the ministry of
Jesus she had been won to devout and earnest discipleship.
It was a great joy to her that her brother Philip had been
chosen one of the twelve apostles of the Saviour. But above
all things she longed to see her son, Ben Ezra, following in
the footsteps of the Son of God; and these desires she often
expressed to her brother Philip.
Now, it so happened that Philip had charge of those
modest meals in which Christ and his disciples joined in their
seasons of quietude and retirement. It was Miriam’s joy to
arrange for these meals—and what more natural than that
young Ben Ezra should carry the basket of loaves, and fishes,
and fruit? One day the boy went at the appointed time
with these materials for the noon meal, and lo! he saw a
crowd of many thousands. He waited and wondered what
would be done. At last his uncle, after a talk with Jesus
about the hunger of this great multitude, so far away from
home, said:
A a Ee re
eee
2 z : : *, )
/
ES
a, — SS
=
~~
———SSSSSaSSSSSSSSS
EM YL)
, ) Fe) 1
\ ‘ }sx gat Af yyy dy) VA
\ asp Uo Bae AG Oa,
THE LAD WITH THE LOAVES AND FIsHEs.
299
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 301
“There is a lad here with five barley loaves and two
small fishes.”
At this Ben Ezra brought his basket, and placing it at
the feet of the Master, heard more talk about the hungry
multitude, and then Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and.
prayed, and lo! the little meal became a banquet for the
multitude, and when all had had enough, the basket was too
small to hold the fragments that remained.
From that day forward Ben Ezra held his basket pre-
cious, and when, long years after, he became a pastor of
one of the early Christian churches, he was accustomed to
distribute the bread at the communion service with his own
hand from the basket he had carried with such joy in his
youth, and to the younger members of the flock he would
often talk of those days when Jesus trod the happy shores
of Galilee. Dying, he left this basket as a legacy, begging
all who followed him to hold it sacred. And so to this day
the descendants of Ben Ezra count their most precious heir
loom “The Basket of Ben Ezra.”
This story of Ben Ezra belongs to legendary lore and
is to be valued accordingly. As a matter of fact, we get
but one glimpse of the favored boy, and then he passes for-
ever from the Gospel record. What became of him? Did
he follow the Christ? Did he joy to tell his children, and
his childrens’ children, in after years, of the wonderful scenes
of that spring day by the sea of Tiberias?
Of all this we know nothing, but we do know that this
lad was an important figure in this scene, and we may urge
upon all thoughtful boys this great truth—that the lowliest
tasks may be more important in themselves and in their
relations to other events than we have ever dreamed.
How could this boy know that he was carrying in his
302 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
plain basket that day a meal that might become a feast for
thousands?
We none of us know how boundless in its usefulness
and in its influences for good our commonest work may
become. A sower goes forth with a basketful of seed, and
the sower may be but a boy, and yet very soon all the land
about will be green and beautiful and rich with promise of
the golden harvests of coming days.
And we may note that the great usefulness of this lad
of the gospel came not in some extraordinary hour, but while
in the discharge of his ordinary every-day duties. Let us go
about our work with shining faces! God will take our small
resources, and will multiply them beyond our dreams. Let
us scatter the seeds He has given us to sow.
“The seeds, within these few and fleeting hours—
Our hands unsparing and unwearied cast—
Shall deck our graves with amaranthine flowers,
And yield us fruits divine in heaven’s immortal bowers.”
XVII.
LAZARUS AND THE SISTERS OF BETHANY.
* Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” — ohn x2., 5.
“ Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
Nor other thoughts her mind admits,
But he was dead, and there he sits,
And he who brought him back is Thee.
Thrice blest, whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher‘love endure; ©
What souls possess themselves so pure,
Or is there blessedness like theirs?”
—Alfred Tennyson.
They sat in sorrow, side by side,
For Lazarus was dead;
Not many words the sisters spake,
And few the tears they shed.
The quiet home of Bethany
Was hallowed as a shrine;
The shadows of the sepulchre
Had made that home divine.
And Mary’s look, and Martha’s sigh
And the hushed stillness there,
Bespoke the anguish of a grief,
No language could declare.
They sat in sorrow, side by side,
And few the words they said;
The house was very desolate,
For Lazarus was dead.
—Thomas W. Handford.
It is very wonderful what strange diversities of character
have been manifested in children who were born in the same
308
304 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
home, and nursed on the same parental knee. The same
cradle has often rocked to slumber a Boanerges, son of
thunder, and a Bartholomew, son of consolation. In the
earlier pages of this book we noted a marvelous contrast in
those twin-brothers of the early days, Jacob and Esau. The
one was an intrepid hunter, the other a plain man, dwelling
in tents.
So in this cottage home in Bethany we have a diversity
of character, distinct, impressive and beautiful. It seems
almost certain that Martha was the head of the household.
She had that force of character, that energy, that demon-
strative disposition that would be sure always to carry her
to the front. Martha received Jesus into “her house;” and
with that busy courtesy that sprang from the heart of genuine
hospitality she began to bestir herself for the comfort of her
sacred guest. Meantime, Mary sat still, listening with awe
and wonder to the words of her heavenly friend.
Those two women made up a beautiful, inseparable whole.
We need them both in the family and the church and in every
path of life to-day. It would bea sad thing for the thought
of the world if all the women were like Martha; and it would
be an equally sad thing for the work of the world if all the
women were like Mary.
We can well imagine what they would do if they were
living among us to-day. Mary would ponder very deeply
the question of woman’s true sphere in the world. Martha
would make a sphere for herself. Martha would be at the
head of the procession with a banner in her hand, but Mary
would beg to be excused. Martha would be on many com-
mittees, and would be busy all day long with Waif’s
Missions and Ragged Schools; Mary would sit at home and
write the poems that would touch the world’s sad heart just
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 305
as tenderly, though not as noisily as Martha’s work. Martha
found her joy in busy service; Mary in quiet thought.
Martha was cumbered with much service, but Mary sat still
in the house. And verily Mary chose the better part. In
this busy age Martha is at the front and Mary is almost
forgotten. We do well to pause now and again, and ask if
it would not be for our good to turn aside occasionally from
the din, and the roar, and the battle, and “sit still in the
house.” The earth is full of “dreary noises.” And mere
noise not only distracts, it demoralizes. It draws from us
the sap of our best possible growth.
The heart is the fountain of life, not the brain. And
the heart can only be nourished by devout, prolonged, fre-
quent meditation. We must “sit still in the house” if we
would hear the Master’s words. There is such a thing as
hearing and not hearing, till the pitcher at the fountain over-
flows and the water is wasted. If we would, like Mary,
open wide the windows of our soul, what streams of sunlight
would pour in upon us; what melodies of heaven would
“sweep their gradual gospels in” to cheer and heal the weary
heart! If, like Mary, we could “sit still” for one hour in
the day, all the day would be bright and calm. Strong in
the strength that would come from such hallowed musings,
we should be prepared for trial, and sufficient for any exi-
gencies that might arise. How beautiful the words of
Wesley on the thoughtful attitude of Mary! What desire
could be more worthy than that expressed in his matchless
verse?
“Oh! that I could forever sit
With Mary at the Master’s feet;
Be this my happy choice.
My only care, delight and bliss,
My joy, my heaven on earth be this,
17 To hear the Bridegroom’s voice.”
306 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
So much for the two sisters of the happy home of
Bethany, but what of Lazarus? That he was a very quiet
lad seems almost certain. He took more after Mary’s thought-
ful ways than Martha’s busy moods. He seems to have been
shy and retiring. It is said that outside the immediate circle
of the Apostles, Lazarus was the most intimate friend Jesus
had. Indeed, the’ question has often been asked, why was
not Lazarus made one of the favored twelve? With what
deep affection Jesus loved him, may be gathered by the tears
he shed by the grave of his friend; tears that called forth
the saying of the Jews who gathered on that eee -occa-
sion: ‘Behold, how he loved him!”
Sickness and trouble and death come to all, even to the
most intimate friends of Christ. Those whom Jesus loves
grow sick and die, and the time of Lazarus came at last.
But Lazarus had high honor. In his case, Jesus was to make
known his power over death and the grave. It was not for
the sake of Lazarus, or of his broken-hearted sisters alone,
but for the sake of all the coming ages, that Jesus cried at
the grave of his dead friend, now sleeping in death:
‘“‘ Lazarus, come forth.”
And Lazarus rose at the command of him, sou the
world was to know forever after as “the resurrection and
the life.” By the graves of untold millions that gracious
word spoken to Martha concerning her brother as been
repeated: :
“JT am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in
me though he were dead yet shall he live; and whoso liveth
_ and believeth in me shall never die.”
And to the very end of time—till that great day when
the angel, one foot on sea and one on solid land shall cry
that “ Time shall be no more! ”—this grand stanza of immortal
ANN
\
SS
“
La
ZAR
U
s, COME Fo
RTH!”
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 309
hope will be chanted wherever sorrowing souls stand weeping
by open graves.
Thus the name of Lazarus is linked forever with
Christ’s largest promise of life and immortality by faith in
him.
It is said that Lazarus lived for thirty years after his
resurrection from the dead. But he passes suddenly from the
gospel history, and no word is spoken of his strange experi-
ence in that brief sojourn in the Silent Land.
Perhaps it is more a pardonable curiosity than anything
beside that prompts the desire, but who would not gladly
learn, if it were possible, what strange emotions possessed
the mind and heart of the brother of Bethany during those
four memorable days? Perhaps the whole subject seemed to
him too sacred to be spoken of. Or if he spoke of these
things in the sacred circle of Bethany, he deemed it best not
to noise the matter abroad.
When Lazarus left his charnel-house
And home to Mary’s house returned,
Was this demanded—if he yearned
To hear her weeping by his grave?
“Where wert thou, brother, those four days?”
There lives no record of reply,
Which telling what it is to die
Had surely added praise to praise.
From every house the neighbors met,
The streets were filled with joyful sound,
A solemn gladness even crowned
The purple brows of Olivet.
Behold a man raised up by Christ!
The rest remaineth unrevealed;
He told it not; or something sealed
The lips of the Evangelist.”
XIX.
THE YOUTHFUL TIMOTHY.
“From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures."—Z/. 7 tmothy ttt, 25.
“ The unfeigned faith which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother
Eunice, and I am persuaded in thee also.”—//. Timothy t., 5.
We love the good old Bible,
The glorious Word of God;
The lamp for those who travel
O’er all life’s dreary road;
The watchword in life's battle,
The chart on life’s dark sea;
The beautiful, dear Bible,
It shall our teacher be.
Who would not love the Bible,
So beautiful and wise?
Its teachings charm the simple,
And all point to the skies;
Its stories all so mighty,
Of men, so brave to see:
The beautiful, dear Bible,
It shall our teacher be.
But most we love the Bible,
For there we children learn
How Christ for us became a child,
Our hearts to Him to turn;
And how He bowed to sorrow,
That we His face might see;
The Bible, yes, the Bible,
It shall our teacher be.
—E£. Paxton Hood.
In many respects, the Apostle Paul must be regarded’
as the most remarkable of all the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
310
BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 311
The history of his life is a most entrancing study. His early -
life, in which he was so bitterly opposed to the followers of the
Son of God, became a preparation, as fitting as it was
strange, for his apostolic career. Paul was permitted to
bear the banner of the cross he had once despised through
Asia Minor, through the chief cities of Greece, to imperial
Rome, and even on the soil of Europe he stood and with
impassioned fervor, he preached Jesus Christ and him
crucified. /
Of all his friends and fellow-helpers none filled so large
a place in the Apostle’s esteem as the youthful Timothy.
It was not so much that Paul honored and admired Timothy;
there were other and tenderer bonds that bound them in
changeless affection. Timothy had been brought into the
fellowship of the church of Jesus Christ through the preaching
and care of the Apostle Paul. Just what a Christian pastor
feels towards those, who, under his care, have been roused
to the consecration of their whole lives to the service of
Christ, Paul felt for Timothy. Amd so he speaks of him in
such endearing terms as “‘my own son in the faith,” and
again he calls him ‘my dearly beloved son;” and again he
says: ‘Without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my
prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee being
mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.”
It was at Lystra where Paul first met his faithful, help-
ful friend. Timothy was born in this city. In the Second
Epistle to Timothy, Paul lifts the veil and gives a pleasant
glimpse of the sacred relationships of the home at Lystra.
Timothy’s father was a Greek of whom we hear little. His
mother, Eunice, was a devout woman, and his grandmother,
Lois, was noted for her piety, and so through three genera-
tions the stream of religious life flowed on, broadening and
312 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.
deepening in its flow. Paul reminds Timothy of the privi-
lege he had ‘enjoyed in this devout ancestry, and says: “I
have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day,
when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith
that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois
and thy mother Eunice.”
Here then was a happy Christian home. From a child
Timothy would be instructed daily in the sacred Scriptures,
with the grand result that must always follow a faithful,
continuous study of the Scriptures, he became ‘“‘wise.”” Wise
unto salvation, thoroughly equipped for the great work that
was before him.
His life was full of honorable toil in the service of Oye
Christ. Those daily Bible lessons with his mother and grand-
mother, in the happy, early days at Lystra, prepared him for
the grave and solemn work of the care of many churches
and finally of the Bishopric of Ephesus.
Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child. And it is
not too much to say that no education is complete that
does not include a thorough knowledge of the Bible. Of all
true wisdom, the knowledge of God is the beginning, the
sum and the substance. And where shall we go for that
knowledge, if not to this sacred book? Men may be wise in
a thousand things, but if they are ignorant of God and his
love, of Christ and his compassion, and of the way through
life to immortality which the Bible makes known, they are
ignorant indeed.’
‘“‘Blessed are they that love thy law, they shall walk,
O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.”
The poet Cowper, from whom we have already quoted,
draws a beautiful picture of a simple-minded woman, who
though ignorant of much of the world’s learning, was well
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BOYS OF THE BIBLE. 315
versed in the truths of the Bible. He contrasts her condi-
tion with that of a brilliant French philosopher who would
not have God to reign over him, and scorned the Bible as
a series of cunningly devised fables.
Let the boys who read this book, study this beautiful
poetic picture, and engrave the lesson it teaches deep in
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“Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins all her little store;
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay,
Shuffling her threads about the live-long day,
Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light;
She, by her humble sphere, by nature fit,
Has little understanding, and‘no wit,
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew;
And in that charter reads with sparkling eyes,
Her title to a treasure in the skies!
“Oh, happy peasant! Oh, unhappy Bard!
His the mere tinsel, her’s the rich reward;
He praised, perhaps, for ages yet to come,
She never heard of half a mile from home;
He lost in errors his vain heart prefers,
She safe in the simplicity of hers!”
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