Five-minute talks for young people

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGH

I.— LOOKING AHEAD 9

II.— A MEMBER OF THE " TRY COMPANY" . . 15 III.— THE SUNSHINY SHOEMAKER ..... 21

Chapter I. Looking Ahead

~TTT"HEX we stand on the top of a hill that ▼ » overlooks a broad and beautiful landscape, it is an interesting thing to look carefully at the different objects that are there before us. If we have a good glass to look through, as the little girl has, it will be a great help to us. We can see further and clearer with the glass than without it. We cannot tell where this girl is standing, or at what she is looking ; but the sight of this picture may well remind us of what we ought to do at the beginning of every year of our life.

When a birthday comes, it seems to set us down on the top of a hill ; and the year on which we are then entering is like a landscape that opens out before us. Every new year that Ave enter on is like the beginning of a new journey, or the opening of another chapter in our lives ; and as we look at this little girl, earnestly gazing at something that interests her, we may well learn a lesson from her.

It is the lesson of looking ahead. I do not mean that we should give way to the foolish and sinful feeling that some people have, when they go to what are called " fortune-tellers.'' This is a wicked thing to do. The people who profess to do thus, put themselves in the place of God, and pretend to tell what will happen to particular persons, to-morrow, or next week, or next month. This is what none but God can do. This is not what we mean by looking ahead.

The lesson suggested by this little girl may lead us to speak a little about three things connected with looking ahead. One of these refers to what we can see when we look ahead. Another refers to what we cannot see in looking ahead. The third refers to what we need in starting ahead.

1. What we can see when we look ahead.

We can see spring and summer and autumn and winter this year, the same as in other years. We can see storms sweeping over land and sea ; shipwrecks and railroad accidents we know will take place ; fires will break out in different places, and burn up houses and property; children will be sick with croup, measles and scarlet-fever ; grown people will be sick, too, with diseases of different kinds ; about the same number of people will die the coming year that have died in other years. It is reckoned that sixty people die every minute ; and so every time the clock ticks throughout the coming year somebody will be dying. And then

LOOKING AHEAD. 11

births will continue to take place a little faster than deaths ; oftener than the clock ticks, a baby will be born somewhere or other.

The same sort of evil things will happen the coming year that have happened in other years. Men will cheat, and lie, and swear, and rob, and murder, and be put in prison, and be hung.

And the same sort of good things will happen in time to come that have happened before. Ministers will preach, and teachers will tell about Jesus, and Sunday scholars will seek Jesus, and get new hearts, and be made happy and useful. These are some of the things we can see when we look ahead.

2. Things ice cannot see, as ice look ahead.

We cannot tell who of us are to be sick or who are to die within a year. As the Apostle James says, " Ye know not what shall be on. the morrow." Some may lose their brothers and sisters ; some may lose dear friends and loving parents before this year is over. But no one can tell to whom these things will happen. We cannot see what changes may take place, or what trials may come upon us within a year ; and if this is so, then we may well think of

3. What ice need in starting ahead.

We shall have duties to do, and we shall need strength to do them. We shall have dangers to meet, and we shall need protection from those dangers. Sometimes we shall not know what is the right thing to do, and we shall need guidance to lead us in the right way. At other times we shall be in trouble, and shall need some one to comfort us. We need some friend who can always be with us, and who can give us these four — strength, and protection, and guidance, and comfort. But Jesus, our beloved Saviour, is the only one who can give us all these things. If we seek him as our Friend, he will always be with us, and will give us all that we may need. We have a good looking-ahead text in Isaiah 33 : 2 ; it is this : — "Be thou their arm every morning." Every morning let us pray that God will be our " arm." If we take hold of this " arm " and lean on it, we shall find in it the four things that we have been speaking of. It will give us all the strength, and protection, and guidance, and comfort that we may need. And if we have these " every morning," then we will certainly have a happy time, Looking Ahead.

Chapter II

THIS little fellow, we can see at a glance, is trying hard to learn to write. And if he only keeps on trying he will be sure to succeed.

Some time ago a gentleman was traveling in a railway car. In the seat before him was a boy who had a parcel on his knee. The parcel was tied up with a string, which the boy was trying to untie. The knot was a tight one. After watching the boy for a while, the gentleman put his hand in his pocket, and took out his penknife. Opening the knife he said, " Here, my friend, let me cut the string for you. I don't think you can untie that knot."

The boy looked up at him with a smile and said, "Thank you, sir. But I belong to the 'Try Company.' My father tells me, when I begin to do anything, always to keep on trying till I do it." Then he went on working away at the knot, till at last he got it untied.

Now the " Try Company " is a very good company to join. I would like all my young friends to join it. I wish to speak of two things for which trying is useful. And these make two good reasons for joining this company.

1. We ought to join this company, for one thing, because trying is useful in getting good for ourselves. If we could follow the history of the boy in our picture, no doubt we should get a good illustration of this part of our subject. We cannot do this. But here is an illustration of the same kind which I know to be true.

A gentleman was on the school committee in a little town in New England. One day he visited the school, as it was his duty to do. It happened to be the time when the scholars were engaged with their writing lessons. He went around from desk to desk examining the copy-books. Some of them were very nicely written, while others were not so well done. At length he came to the desk of one little fellow who was the poorest writer in the school. When the other scholars saw the gentleman look at this boy's book, they knew what ugly scrawls he would see there, and they laughed. This made the boy feel so badly that he covered his face with his hands and burst into tears.

The gentleman felt sorry for the boy, and patting him kindly on the shoulder he asked, "What is your name, my little man ? "

" My name is Charley, sir," said the boy.

" Charley, lend me your pen a minute/ 7 said the

A MEMBER OF THE "TRY COMPANY:' 17

visitor. He took the pen, and sat down and wrote his own name on the copy-book, in a nice, large, round hand. Then he said, " Now, Charley, look at that. I remember when I couldn't write a bit better than you do. But I made up my mind to try to be a good writer. And you see how well I succeeded. Don't be discouraged, Charley. Try, and keep on trying, and you'll get to be one of the best writers in the school."

About twenty years or more afterwards this gentleman was attending a public meeting in a western town. At the close of the meeting a gentleman came up and shook him warmly by the hand, saying, " You don't remember me, sir, do you?" "No, I do not." "Well, sir, do you remember, years ago, visiting the school in such a town, and writing your name on the copy-book of a boy named Charley, and telling him that, if he tried, he might become the best writer in the school ?" " Yes, I remember that," " Well, sir, I am Charley. I took your advice. I did try. I became one of the best writers in that school. I am the governor of this state now. And I owe it all to the lesson of trying which you taught me on that day." This shows us how useful trying is in getting good for ourselves.

2. But there is another reason for joining this company, and that is, trying is useful in doing good to others. It would be easy enough to fill a volume with illustrations of this part of our subject. But I make room for one.

More than a hundred years ago Robert Raikes was going through the streets of Gloucester, England, one Sabbath da}'. He saw crowds of young people seeking to amuse themselves, without any thought of God, of their souls, or of eternity. The thought came into his mind how much good might be done if these young people could be gathered together and taught the word of God. Then the question arose, " Why should it not be ? " And then he said to himself, u Vll try" He did try. That was the beginning of the modern system of the great work of Sunday-school instruction. This work has gone round the world. It has carried the blessings of life and peace, of comfort and salvation, to uncounted numbers of homes and hearts.

Then let us all join the " Try Company," for these two good reasons : because trying is useful in getting good for ourselves ; and in doing good to others.

Chapter III. The Sunshiny Shoemaker

THE shoemaker in this picture is occupying a lowly position. His business is to sit on that humble bench, in that little shop, and make or mend shoes. But his position is an honest and useful one, and this makes it honorable. All honest work is honorable. Our friend in the picture looks as though he felt that he was honorably engaged. What a bright and cheerful face he has ! He looks as though he might have been the man of whom a good story is told. Some one asked him the question, "Have you got much religion?" His reply was, " Just enough to help me make and mend shoes well."

The catechism of the Episcopal Church teaches that one important part of our work as Christians is " to do our duty in that state of life in which it has pleased God to ccdl us." I know not whether the shoemaker here represented was a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, or an Episcopalian. But it makes little difference, if he was only a good Christian. He looks like a cheerful, sunshiny Christian.

There are three good reasons why all Christians should be cheerful and sunshiny.

1 . One reason is, that they have good company. God our Saviour goes with us wherever we

are. He said to Jacob at Bethel, " I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (Gen. 28 : 15). He says to each of us, " Fear thou not ; for I am with thee" (Isa. 41 : 10). And the apostle tells us, that " truly our fellowship," or companionship, " is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ " (1 John 1 : 3). There is no better company than this for any one to have. And if we are Christians, the thought of having such good company may well make us cheerful and sunshiny. This was just what good John Newton felt when speaking of the presence of Jesus; he said :

" While blest with a sense of his love,

A palace a toy would appear ; And prisons would palaces prove,

If Jesus would dwell with me there."

2. But Christians ought to be cheerful and sunshiny, because they have not only good company, but also a good supply.

If you and I had to go on a journey for two or three days, and knew not where we could get anything to eat or drink till we came back, we

THE SUNSHINY SH0F3IAKER. 23

could not be very cheerful. But if we had a large basket with us, full of all kinds of nice provisions, then we might well be cheerful.

Now, just look at one of the sweet promises God gives us when we begin to serve him. It is written in Phil. 4:19, and reads thus : " My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." This is like a big basket filled with everything that we can need on our way to heaven. In the 84th Psalm the Psalmist tells us about some of the good things that are in this basket. He mentions water to drink, and strength to walk and work with, and a shield to protect us, and a sun to give us light, and grace to give us comfort, and glory to give us encouragement. Here are seven good things mentioned as in this basket ; and then we are told that "no good thing" is left out of it (Ps. 84: 11). Surely this is a good supply ; and those who have it ought to be cheerful.

3. And then there is another thing that should help to make us cheerful and sunshiny if we are trying to serve God : we not only have good company and a good supply, but also a good prospect.

If a boy is playing truant, and knows that when he gets home at night there is a flogging awaiting him, he has a bad prospect before him. That is enough to make him feel uncomfortable all day. But if a boy is doing an errand for his father, and is doing it well ; if he knows that when he gets home at night his father's approving words, "Well done," and his loving kiss are awaiting him — this may well help to make him happy and cheerful all the day.

And this is just our case if we are trying to love and serve the blessed Saviour. When we die and go home to him, his loving words to each of us will be, " Well done, good and faithful servant . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." This is a good prospect to have before us. And this should help to make us cheerful and sunshiny. David was looking both at the supply for the way in which he was walking, and at the prospect at the end of that way, when he said, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever " (Ps. 23 : 6). And if we have these three good things : good company, a good supply, and a good prospect, we ought to be cheerful and sunshiny.

Chapter IV. The Good Builder

HERE is a boy who is busy with his building blocks. "We may well feel an interest in this kind of work, because we all have something to do Avith building. I do not mean to say that we shall all be carpenters or masons ; but I mean that we all have a character to make of one kind or other : either a good character or a bad one. This character may be compared to a building, and Ave in making it may well be called builders. We are good builders, or bad builders, according to the kind of building we are putting up. We find the matter thus spoken of in the Bible. This is what the apostle Jude means, in the twentieth verse of his short epistle, when he says, " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith." When we are learning to form good habits, and do what is right, Ave are making a good character ; and this, like a building, is growing broader, and higher, and more beautiful. But if Ave are doing wrong things, then Ave are making a bad character, and our building is becoming illshaped and ugly.

Now, if we wish to be good builders, or, as Paul says, " wise master builders/' and make for ourselves a good character, there are three things we must be sure to get.

1. In the first place we must have a good plan. If we should see a man begin to build a church or a house without first having a plan of the building drawn, we should think he was very foolish. Before beginning to put up a building of any kind, a wise man will always have a plan of it drawn. This plan will show how wide, how long, how high the building is to be ; how many rooms there are to be in it, how many doors and windows there are to be, and where each of them is to be placed. It is impossible to make a building of any kind that will be satisfactory, without a good plan.

And it is just the same when we begin the building up of our characters. We must have a good plan. And when we get this plan we must be careful to follow it, and make our own characters just like it. We must look to the Bible for this plan. Here we find it in the life and character of our blessed Saviour. He came down from heaven to show us how to be good builders, "Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." And if we try to " tread in the blessed steps of his

THE GOOD BVILDER. 29

most holy life ; " to say and do what he would be likely to say and do, if he were in our place — then we shall be copying his example, or following the plan he has left us, and we certainly shall be good builders.

2. But the second thing we must have, if we would be successful in this sort of building, is a good foundation.

Our Saviour taught us, in one of his beautiful parables, that if a man should build his house on the sand without a foundation, it would show that he was a foolish man. For, in the time of trial, when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell. But a house that had its foundation on a rock would stand safely in the time of trial, and this would prove that the builder was a wise man.

And when we are building a character, a good foundation is just as important as when we are building a house. And if we look into the Bible, it is easy to find out the rock on which we must build if we want to make a good character. The apostle Paul shows us this when he says, " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3: 11). But you may ask, How can Christ be our foundation ? What is meant by building up our characters on him? It means that we must trust him for the pardon of our sins, and for our right to enter heaven.

The hymn says, "Trusting Jesus, that is all;" and this is true. For when we are hoping to be saved, not for anything good in ourselves, but for what Jesus has done for us, then it may well be said that we are building; on him.

3. And then there is one other thing that we must have if we would be successful in this kind of building, and this is good materials.

The apostle speaks of some persons using " wood, hay, stubble " in making a building. It would be impossible to have a good building by using such materials as these. But then he speaks of other persons who work with "gold, silver, precious stones." These are good materials. They would make a splendid building.

If we are only loving ourselves, and trying to please ourselves, then all that we can do in building up our characters will be like the " wood, hay, stubble " of which the apostle speaks (1 Cor. 3 : 12). These are bad materials, and the building made in using them must be a bad building. But if we learn to love the blessed Saviour, and try to please him, this will turn all that we do into " gold, silver, precious stones."

Then let us all try to get these three things : this good plan, this good foundation, and these good materials, and so we shall be good builders.

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Chapter V. The Blind Man And His Lessons

WHAT a sad sight it is to see a blind man ! How sorrowful to think of all he misses ! He never can see the bright sun shining in his beauty. He never can see the green fields, or the waving grain, or the running brooks, or the beautiful flowers, or the swelling hills, or the great mountains, or the blue sky that God has made. He never can see the silvery moon as she walks forth in her loveliness, nor the twinkling stars as they shine in the heavens by night.

He never can look upon the faces of those who love him ; never see the light that kindles in their eyes, or the sweet smiles that play over their countenances, just as the sunshine plays over the landscape. And then he never can walk with comfort or confidence, but is obliged to move slowly and carefully, feeling his way along step by step. And yet, when we look thoughtfully at a poor blind man, like the one in our picture, it may very well teach us some good lessons. Let us look for a moment at some of these.

1. One lesson that the sight of such a blind man may teach us is the lesson of pity.

How many comforts and blessings we have which the blind man can never share ! This should make us feel very loving and tender towards him, and should lead us to try to help him and comfort him all we can. This is just what the two little girls in our picture are doing. They look as though they were pitying the poor man ; and one of them is dropping a piece of money into the little basket which the blind man's dog is holding in his mouth. We should feel pity for the blind when we see them.

2. Another lesson which the sight of the blind man should teach us is the lesson of gratitude.

When we have things every day and all the time, we are very apt to forget how valuable they are, and how much we owe to God for giving them to us. People who have never been sick can hardly understand what a blessing it is to be well. If we have never had the headache, or the earache, we do not know how to be properly thankful for heads and ears that do not ache. And so with our eyes. We open them every morning, and use them all the day, and it is hard for us to feel grateful as we should, for the power to use our eyes so freely. But suppose an unseen hand should fasten a bandage over our eyes, a bandage we had no power to remove, in the midst of our day's work or our

THE BLIND MAN AND HIS LESSONS. 35

day's play ; how dreadful it would be ! We could not read ; we could not work ; we could not walk ; we could not play ; our one constant cry would be, "Oh, take it off! take it off!" And when at last it was taken off, how grateful we should feel for the use of our eyes ! And this is one lesson the sight of a blind man should teach us. It should make us grateful for the use of our eyes.

3. And then there is one other lesson the sight of a blind man may teach us, and this is the lesson of hope.

God has told us that the time is coming when " the eyes of the blind shall be opened " (Isa. 35 : 5). Jesus opened the eyes of the blind when he was on earth. But he did not open the eyes of all the blind. There were only a few blind men whom he thus blessed. Multitudes of them were left to grope their way in darkness. Their eyes were not opened. But the promise of Isaiah, spoken of above, refers to all the blind. I suppose this promise refers to heaven. There will be no blind -people in heaven! The prophet Isaiah gives us another sweet promise, that we know refers to heaven. He says in one place, u Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (Isa. 33: 17). This will be true of all who go to heaven. How many beautiful things there will be for us to see in heaven ! How beautiful the golden streets of that heavenly city will be ! And the pearly gates, and the jewelled walls, and the glorious angels will all be very beautiful. But the most blessed and beautiful thing about heaven will be, that there we shall see Jesus. As he said in his wonderful prayer, we shall be with him where he is, that we may behold his glory (John 17 : 24). Beholding his glory, and seeing him in his beauty, both mean the same thing. And this is what we shall all see in heaven, if we love and serve Jesus. And so, when we see a blind man, these are the lessons the sight should teach us : a lesson of pity, a lesson of gratitude, a lesson of hope.

Chapter VI. The Little Girl And Her Pet

~VVT"HAT a pretty picture this is ! Here we » » see a good-natured, pleasant-looking little girl. She is sitting on a rug with her pet kitten in her lap. The little girl looks pleased, and pussy looks pleased too. We see one of pussy's paws resting gently on the little girPs left arm. Pussy seems well satisfied with her little mistress, and the place she occupies on her lap. As we look at her, we can almost fancy that we hear the low purring noise that cats are accustomed to make when they are pleased. Hidden away in that paw, that rests so gently there, are sharp ugly claws, that could tear the skin from that arm in a minute, and make the blood come. But when pussy is treated gently and kindly, she finds no use for those claws, and so they do not appear.

1. The lesson of gentleness. — This is a lesson we should all try to learn and practice. It is the lesson that Jesus was speaking of when he said, " Learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart "

(Matt. xi. 29). He meant by this to say that he is gentle, and that he wants us all to be like him. And this is the view of our Saviour's character that we are taught to think of when we offer to him that sweet prayer, written for the little ones, which begins,

" Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child."

2. Gentleness is a very pleasant thing, and this is a good reason why we should learn this lesson.

When we go into the woods in summertime, and see the nice soft velvety moss growing over the rocks, how pleasant it is to sit down on that moss ! It would be very disagreeable to sit on the rough, hard rock if it were not for the moss that covers it. But this grows over the hard rock, and makes a pleasant seat for us. And gentleness in our homes is just as pleasant a thing as the moss is in the woods. It covers up the rough, sharp points of ill-temper, and makes every one feel comfortable.