Bible animals and the lessons taught by them

Front matter

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Contents

SEBMON page

I. The Lion 9

II. The Sheep .37

Preface

The present volume contains the sermons in Dr. Newton^s last course on Bible Animals,” which were found in his study at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, after his death, and which are hereby published by his own dying lequcst.

It is his last work for the young, and if the Saints in Paradise are conscious of what goes on in this world; it will give this faithful servant of God an added joy to know indeed that though he is removed from earth, he still speaks to his little friends, and that in very truth his works do follow him.

New York, Sejpt. Isf, 1888.

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THE LION.

*^The lion is the strongest among beasts.’*

PROVERBS XXX. 30 .

We enter now on a new course of sermons for the young. The subject of these sermons will be Bible Natural History , We shall take up one and another of the different beasts and birds mentioned in the Bible, and in their habits and characters, try to find illustrations of some of the truths taught us in the Bible, and of the duties that spring out of those truths.

The first of the animals mentioned in the Bible that we will take up as our study is — the Lion. Solomon tells us, in our text, that — A lion is the strongest among beasts.’^ And this is true. We cannot look at the picture of a lion without seeing that he must be very strong. With a single

stroke of his paw the lion can kill a dog, or a

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sheep, or a wolf. And when he has killed a horse, or an ox, he can carry it, or drag it away to his den with the greatest ease.

The length of a full grown lion, from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail is between seven and eight feet. Its height at its shoulders is about three feet. The male lion has a heavy mass of hair around its neck and head, which is called its mane.

And when the lion stands up before us, with its eyes flashing, its mane rising, and its tail waving, it appears to be, as it really is, one of the finest looking animals that God has made.

The roar of the lion is terrible. The prophet Amos compares its roar to the voice of God, when he says : The lion roareth ; who will not fear ? The Lord hath spoken, who can but prophecy ? (Amos iii. 8.) It is not surprising to hear the lion called — the king of beasts,” or the monarch of the forest.” In the Old Testament times there were plenty of lions in the land of Palestine, and nearly all the prophets spoke about them 5 but none are to be found there now. There are no lions in our country, or in England, except

The Lion is the Strong^^st Among Beasts/’

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THE LION.

where they are found in menageries. Asia and Africa are the principal countries where lions live and flourish in these days.

Our sermon to-day will be about the lion and its lessons. And when we consider the habits and qualities of the lion, we find in them good illustrations of four important lessons which it will be well for us all to learn to practice.

The first of these is — the lesson of moderation.

Notwithstanding the great strength of the lion, when he gets enough to eat he is satisfied, and does not ^go on killing either men or beasts, for the mere love of killing. But it is very different with some other animals. The wolf and the tiger, for example, are unlike the lion in this respect. They have no moderation. When they have had as much as they want to eat they are not satisfied, but will go on killing, just because they love to kill. The lion is satisfied when it has enough to eat, and here we have an illustration of its moderation.

In Wood’s Natural History we find a story

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about a lion which shows us how true the point now before us is.

He tells us about a soldier belonging to an English regiment which was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in the southern part of Africa. This soldier had been told that up among the Dutch Boers, who lived in the interior of Southern Africa, there were fine opportunities of making money and of getting rich. This was what he very much wanted. So he made up his mind that he would desert from his regiment, and go up among the Dutch Boers, and try to make his fortune there. He watched for a favorable opportunity, and then he deserted and went.

Before going, however, he was careful to get a big bag, filled with bread and meat, as his food for the journey, which would last for several days. In that part of Africa lions are very numerous. At night, when this soldier lay down to sleep on the ground, he put the bag, which contained his provisions, under his head for a pillow. On the second night of his journey he lay down to sleep, with his head on his bag of provisions. During that night, while he was fast asleep, a

THE LION.

great lion came prowling around him. When the lion came near him, and smelled the provisions in the bag, he put forth his huge paw, and pulling the bag from under the soldier^s head, carried it off, and made a good supper for himself out of the contents of the bag. And when he had done this he was satisfied. He might have gone back, and sprung upon the sleeping soldier, and torn his body to pieces. But he had gotten something to eat, and that was enough for him. And in acting as he did that lion was giving a good illustration of the lesson of moderation^

The Bible rule about moderation is given us by the apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, when he says : having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” (1 Tim. iii. 8.)

But we often find it hard to learn this lesson ; and yet we never can be happy until we do learn it. Here is a good illustration of this. We may call it —

ANNANS BREAKFAST.

Anna was a little girl about ten years old, who had not learned the lesson of whJch we are

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speaking. One morning, on sitting down to breakfast, she said —

Mother, wont you tell Jane to bring me some honey ?

There is none, my dear,” said her mother.

I sent the last we had to a poor sick girl j but there^s some nice syrup.”

I don’t like syrup,” said Anna, and if I can^t have honey I wont eat my breakfast : I hate buckwheat cakes without honey.”

Mrs. Grey looked sadly at her little girl, and was about to speak to her, when the door opened, and Jane, the cook, came in, saying: ^'Please ma’am here’s a poor little girl who wants something to eat.”

Bring her in, and let me see her,” said Mrs. Grey.

Jane returned directly, leading a little girl about ten years old. She was very pale and thin, and very poorly drc:."ed.

Mrs. Grey kindly led her to the fire, and then gave her some breakfast. In answer to Mrs. Grey’s inquiries, she said her name was Mary Willis j that her father had gone to California a

THE LIOH.

year ago ; they had become so poor that they were obliged to live in a garret: Nelly the baby was crying for something to eat, and there was nothing to give it. So I asked mother to let me go out and beg this morning. It is the first time I ever begged. But I could not bear to see the dear baby crying for something to eat.”

Mrs. Grey left the room, and Anna, who had not spoken a word, helped the little girl to something which she thought she would like. Mrs. Grey soon returned with some warm clothes, in which she dressed Mary. Then she took a basket, and put into it some cold meat and bread, a tin pail full of milk, with a tight cover, some tea and sugar, and told her she would go with her and see her mother. Anna, who felt she had done wrong, and had not yet spoken a word, asked if she might go. Her mother said yes.” Then she ran to get her cloak and bonnet. Mary took the basket, feeling very happy to think that she was carrying something for her mother, and the dear baby. Mrs. Grey and Anna followed her. They found Mrs. Willis, as Mary had said, living in a garret *, but it was as nice and clean

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as could be. Mrs. Willis was sewing on sailors’ sbirts, for which she received twelve and a half cents apiece. She could only make two a day, the pay for which would be twenty-five cents. All that this would bring her a week would be a dollar and a half. She had to pay half a dollar a week for her rent, and then there was only a dollar a week left for them to live upon.

While hearing all this, Mrs. Grey had given Nelly, the baby, some bread and milk, for breakfast, which made her very happy. Then she arranged with Mrs. Willis, to have Willie, Mary’s brother, come to her house every morning, and do little jobs for her, and for which she would give him fifty cents a week. That would pay for their rent ; and she would try and get Mrs. Willis some more profitable work to do.

After tea that evening Anna was alone with her mother. She came and knelt by her side, and hiding her face in her lap, she said : 0,

mother, I see how very naughty I was this morning ; wont you please forgive me ? ” Her mother stooped over and kissed her. Then she kneeled down with her, and asked God to forgive her.

THE LION.

and teach her hereafter to he content with tsuch things as she had.

Anna went to bed that night, repeating to herself a hymn her mother had taught her, of which these are the first two verses :

“Whene’er I take my walks abroad,

How many poor I see !

What shall I render to the Lord For all his gifts to me ?

“ Not more than others I deserve,

Yet God has given me more ;

For I have food, while others starve,

Or beg from door to door.”

Anna never forgot the lesson she learned that day. It was the lesson of contentment, or being thankful for such things as we have.

And this is what we are now speaking of in connection with the lion. The first lesson we may learn from the lion is the lesson of moderation.

II

The second lesson which the lion teaches us is — THE LESSON OF KINDNESS.

We do not generally take in the idea of klnd- 2

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ness in connection with the lion. When we think of the size of the lion — of his great strength — of his huge bristling mane — of his flashing eye — and of his terrific roar, we think how easy it would be for him to frighten, or to kill animals, or men j but to look for kindness towards other creatures, on the part of an animal like the lion, is something that we hardly expect to meet with.

And yet, we do sometimes meet with very striking acts of kindness. Here is an illustration of what I mean. The story to which I refer may be called —

THE LION^S PET.

Some years ago a travelling circus, with a menagerie accompanying it, came to the city of Manchester in England, and remained there for some time.

Great crowds of people came together every day, to see the strange sights which were to be seen there. Among those who came one day, was a man with a little dog. This dog had just been beaten by another dog with which it had been fighting. The other dog was the larger of the

THE LION.

two, and it was no wonder that the little thing should have been beaten. But the owner of the dog was in a perfect rage with it because it did not beat the other dog. He seized the poor creature, and though it was bleeding and suffering from the effect of the fight, he shook it, and beat it most cruelly. Then he hurried into the circus tent, and going up to the front of the lion’s cage, he thrust the dog through the iron bars, expecting to see the lion spring towards him, and devour him in a moment. But he did not do this.

The dog seemed to understand the danger he was in ; for he crouched upon the floor, and crept away into a corner of the den, as far from the lion as he could get. The lion fixed his gaze upon him, but did not stir. At last the dog seemed to gather hope, and crawling slowly towards the monarch of the forest,” he looked pleadingly up into his face, as if he meant to say.

Please, wont you be kind to a poor dog ? ”

To the surprise of all who were looking on, the king of beasts, who could have crushed the dog to death with one stroke of his huge paw.

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gently drew the helpless creature to his side, and then raised his lordly head and neck above him, as if he meant to say : Don’t be afraid, little doggy : I’m your protector now, and no one shall hurt you.”

And now the owner of the dog had gotten over his foolish anger towards him, and felt as if he would like to have him back again. So he went to the keeper of the tent, and asked him to give him his dog. You put him in the cage yourself,” said the keeper, and you can go and get him out.”

The man went up to the cage and called his dog : but the dog took no notice of him. It was just as if he had said : No, I don’t want to come. I’ve got a better master than you, and I would rather stay with him.”

Then the old master called again and again y he whistled, and he coaxed, but the dog took no notice of him. At last he got angry, and began to scold and threaten ; then the lion looked towards the man with his eyes flashing fire, and gave one of his terrible roars. This frightened the man, who turned and ran away, while all the

THE LION.

people in the tent laughed at him. The lion never would let the dog he taken away from him, and so they continued friends together as long as the dog lived.

Now that lion certainly did teach the lesson of kindness. And we ought to learn, and practice this lesson, because of the good we can do by kindness.

Here is a good illustration of the power of kindness. This story may be called —

KINDNESS REWARDED.

A number of years ago an officer of the English government was stationed on duty in the Highlands of Scotland. In attending to the duties of his office, he had every day to walk a number of miles through the country. One day, in the course of his walk, without exactly knowing why, he felt a desire to look into a cattle shed, which stood near the side of the road, in a lonely place, far away from any dwelling. On entering it, he found, to his surprise, a poor Irish laborer, lying there. This man had been engaged, during the summer, in doing field work, in that part of the country. As he was on his way home to Ireland, he was taken suddenly sick, and this led him to go into the cattle shed. He had been there a night and part of a day, and when the officer found out how much he was in want of food, he returned to his lodgings, and got for the poor Irishman the food that he needed. Then he made him as comfortable as he could, and promised to call and see him again the next day. He kept on doing this, for a number of days, tiU the poor man got well enough to start on his journey to Ireland.

About a year after this had taken place, the officer was removed to Ireland. Before he had been there long, he met in the street one day, the very Irishman to whom he had shown so much kindness in Scotland. The poor man became almost wild with delight, on seeing the officer, and shouted out, at the top of his voice :

Here^s the man that saved my lifeP And in a little while all the people in that part of the country, got to know this officer, and what he had done to their countryman. And the kindness of the officer to this man, was the means of saving his own life, several times. For, during the first year that he was in Ireland, a great famine prevailed there. This led to great suffering, and caused many deaths. On more than one occasion, this officer found himself surrounded by men with pistols in their hands, who were about to kill him ; but, as soon as they saw who it was, they would cry out : Sure and youWe the man who saved Fat Moony^s life ; we wont hurt tjouF

And all the time he remained in that district, he was known, and spoken of, by the people, as the man who was kind to a poor sick Irishman, when far away from his home. This was indeed kindness rewarded. And so we see that the second lesson, taught us by the lion, is the lesson of kindness.

III

The third lesson we may learn from the lion is — THE LESSON OF OBEDIENCE.

The one to be obeyed, above all others, is God. He tells us, in the Bible, what he wants us to do. In the Old Testament we have his ten commandments, and God expects us to show our

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obedience to Him by keeping these commandments. In the New Testament we are told : —

This is His commandment, that we should believe on his Son Jesus Christ.^^ And when we learn to love and serve Jesus, we are obeying God, in the way in which He wants us to do it. But there is no Bible for the lions, which can teU them what God wants them to do. How then can they obey God ? This is a question which may well be asked here. But, without preparing a Bible for the lions, God is able, in other ways, to make them imderstand what he wants them to do, or not to do. And when they mind what God tells them, in any way, then they obey God themselves, and teach us the lesson of obedience. We have a good illustration of this, in what the Bible tells us about Daniel in the lions’ den.

At that time Daniel was at the head of all the great princes in the kingdom of Babylon. Some of those wicked princes disliked him, because he was so pious and good. They wanted to find some fault with him, and try aiid get the king to take away his high office from him. But he was

THE LION.

so faithful in the discharge of all his duties, that there was no fault for them to find with him.

Then they made up their minds to find fault with him about his religion. They knew that he was in the habit of praying to God three times a day. And so they got the king to pass a law, that no one should offer a prayer to any God for thirty days j and that if any one did so, he

should be cast into the den of lions. The king

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passed this law without thinking about Daniel. When Daniel knew that this law had been passed, he paid no attention to it, but went on praying to God three times a day, as he had been accustomed to do. Then his enemies accused him to the king of breaking the law of the kingdom, and demanded that he should be cast into the den of lions. The king was very fond of Daniel, and when he found how things had turned out, he blamed himself severely for passing such a foolish law, and tried hard to save Daniel from the lions. But he could not do this ; for the law had to be executed, and so Daniel was cast into the den of lions. The thought of this troubled the king so much, that he could not sleep any all

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that night. As soon as it was light, in the morning, he rose and dressed himself, and hastened to the lions^ den, to see what had become of Daniel. To his surprise he found him there alive and well. Then he cried out : O, Daniel, servant of the living God ; is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions ?

And Daniel said, O, king, live forever ; my God hath sent his angel and shut the lions^ mouths •j and they have not hurt me.”

Now the question that comes before us here is this : what did the angel do to the lions, to keep them from devouring Daniel ? If he had put muzzles on their jaws, so that they could not open their mouths, we could easily understand it. But he did not do this. We can only think of one other thing which the angel did. He must have made those lions imderstand, in some way or other, we know not how, that it was the will of God that they must not hurt that man Daniel, who was put in their den. And when the lions knew this, they minded it. They obeyed God 5 and in doing this they taught you, and me,

THE LION.

and all people the important lesson of obedience.

And here is an illustration, outside of the Bible, just of the same kind. This story we may call —

THE lion’s sermon.

A sermon with this singular title, has been delivered in the Church of Saint Catherine free, Leadenhall Street, London, in the month of October, every year, since the reign of King Charles I., which is more than two hundred years ago. At the time just spoken of, there lived in London a wealthy merchant, whose name was Sir John Gay or.

He was an active member of the church above referred to, and gave large sums of money to help in carrying on the good work in which it was engaged. At one period of his life, he made up his mind, for purposes connected with his business, to undertake a long journey on the continent of Asia. This was, then, a very dangerous thing to do. In the course of that journey he met with many strange adventures. After his return home, he wrote a history of those

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adventures, which was printed. But the volume which contained that history was burned in the Great Fire of London. Yet the account of one interesting circumstance, connected with that journey, has been preserved.

And it comes in very well to illustrate the point of our subject now before us. One day, while travelling through Arabia, Sir John was separated from his companions, and was obliged to travel by himself alone. As he was doing this, to his great alarm, he saw a huge, fierce-looking lion coming towards him. He had no gun with which to defend himself, and felt sure that the time had come for him to die, unless it should please God to protect and save him.

In a moment he kneeled down, and engaged in earnest prayer. He asked the Lord mercifully to spare his life, and deliver him from the jaws of that hungry lion. While he was thus praying the lion walked close up to him, and went prowling round him several times, and then quietly turned round and went away, without the slightest injury to that man of prayer.

Now how can we account for this ? Just in the

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same way in wMcli Daniel accounted for hi^ preservation from the lions in that den. God had sent his angel and shut the mouth of that Arabian lion, and made him feel that it was the command of God to him, not to hurt that praying man. And this lion obeyed God, just as those lions in Babylon did.

And, on his return to England, Sir John gave £200, or $1000, to the church above spoken of, on the condition that a sermon should be preached in that church every year in memory of God’s goodness in saving him from the jaws of that lion.

And here we see that the third lesson which the lion teaches us, is the lesson of obedience.

This is the most important of all lessons for us to learn. Our happiness, our usefulness, and our salvation all depend upon it. Then let it be our earnest prayer that God may teach us to learn and practice this lesson.