Bible story-land for home, school and Sunday school...

Preface

In placing Bible Story-Land before the public, we do it believing that a work is needed which will more thoroughly encourage little children to pursue the study of the Bible.

We have aimed in this volume to make the stories child like and fascinating to such a degree that even the youngest will find pleasure and take delight in hearing the beautiful stories read and re-read.

From personal experience, we feel confident in saying that parents and teachers especially will find it a boon in engaging the attention of children who have little or no taste for works of this kind.

Many interesting histories have been omitted because the compiler

feared to bvvell the size of the book and judged it better to relate

principal events in detail than to. give an abridged account of all.

It is the hope that thousands will here cultivate a taste for the

" best and greatest of books," and be stimulated to a further study

of the same.

THE COMPILER.

Table Of Contents

1. The Creation g 40.

2 .The Fall of Man 13 41.

5. Abraham, or the Promised Land 31 44.

Chapter I. The Creation

My Dear Children : I know that you have heard that God made the world. A man could not make such a world as this.

Men can make many things, such as boxes and baskets. Suppose you were to shut a man up in a room which was empty and say, "You shall not come out till you have made a box." Would the man ever come out ? No, never. A man could not make a box, unless he had something to make it of. He must have some wood, tin, pasteboard, or something. But God had nothing to make the world of. He only spoke, and it was made.

Making things of nothing is called "creating." No one can create anything but God.

God is called the Creator because He created all things. There is only one Creator. Angels even cannot create things. They could not create one drop of water, or one little fly.

God was six days in creating the world.

On the first day, God said : " Let there be light ; " and there was light. And God called the light Day, and the darkness Night.

On the second day, God spoke again, and there was water very high ; that water is called the clouds. There was also water very low. There was nothing but water to be' seen. God filled every place with air; but you know the air cannot be seen.

THE CREATION.

On the third day, God spoke, and the dry land appeared from under the water; and the water ran down into one deep place. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters Seas. We walk upon the dry land. We cannot walk upon the sea. God spoke, and things grew out of the earth. Grass and corn, and trees and flowers.

On the fourth day, God spoke, and the sun and moon and stars were made. God ordered the sun to come every

No. 5. Fifth Day of Creation.

morning, and to go away in the evening. It is best that it should be dark at night, when we sleep. But God lets the

THE CREATION.

No. 6. Sixth Day of Creation.

moon shine, and the stars also ; so that if we go out in the night, we often have a little light. There are more stars than we can count.

On the fifth day, God began to make things that are alive. He spoke and the water was filled with fishes, and birds flew out of the water, and perched upon the trees.

On the sixth day, God spoke, and the beasts came out of the earth ; lions, sheep, cows, horses, as well as all kinds of creeping things, such as bees, ants, and worms.

At last God made a man. God made man's body of the dust, and then breathed into him. The man had a soul

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12 THE CREATION.

as well as a body. So the man could think of God. And afterward God made the woman from a piece of the flesh and bone from the man's side.

God gave all the other creatures to Adam and Eve ; He blessed them, and put them into the garden of Eden, and told Adam to take care of the garden.

When God had finished all His works, He saw that they were good. He was pleased with the things He had made. They were all beautiful. The light was glorious ; the air was sweet ; the earth was lovely, clothed in green ; the sun and moon shone brightly in the heavens ; the birds and beasts and all the living creatures were good and happy ; and Adam and Eve were the best of all, for they could think of God and praise Him.

You know there are seven days in the week. Now, on the seventh day God did not make anything ; He rested from all His works. He called the seventh day His own day, because He rested on it. This is the reason people rest on the seventh day, and call it God's day. It is the Sabbath-day

Chapter II. The Sin Of Adam

You remember that God put Adam and Eve in a pretty garden. There they lived very happily. They were kind to each other; were never sick nor in pain. Adam worked in the garden, but not so hard as to tire himself. His work was pleasant, for it was never too hot nor too cold, and there were no weeds nor thistles growing.

There was one tree of which Adam might not eat. The name of the tree was: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God said, that if Adam ate of it, he should die. Adam and Eve might eat of all the other trees in the garden.

They loved God. He was their friend, and used to walk and talk with them.

You know there are a great many wicked angels; one of them is called Satan. This wicked angel wished to make them unhappy, so he thought : I will try and persuade them to eat that fruit which God has told them not to eat. So Satan put on the body of a serpent, and came into the garden.

He saw Eve, and pretended to be kind, and said : Why do you not eat of the fruit?

But she said : God has told us not to eat of that fruit ; if we do, we shall die.

But the serpent said: No, you shall not die, but this fruit will make you wise like God.

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THE SIN OF ADAM.

The woman was afraid to eat ; but she looked, and thought the fruit nice; she looked again, and thought it pretty. So she took the fruit and ate it, and gave some to Adam.

By eating they became sinful ; they knew they had done

No. 7. The Temptation.

wrong; they were afraid of seeing God. Soon they heard His voice in the garden, and they went and hid themselves among the thick trees, that grew all over the garden. But they did not hide them from God.

God called Adam, and said : Adam, where art thou ?

16 THE SIN OF ADAM.

Then Adam said : I was afraid, and hid myself.

Then God said : Have you eaten of that tree ?

Then Adam said : The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

God said to the woman : What is this that thou hast done?

And she said : The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

God was angry with them all, but most of all with the serpent. God said to him : You shall always crawl on the ground, and eat dust.

Then God said to the woman : You shall often be sick, and Adam shall be your master, and you must obey him.

And God said to Adam : You shall work hard, and dig the ground; thorns and thistles shall grow; you shall have bread to eat, but you shall be obliged to work so hard that drops of sweat shall stand upon your forehead ; you shall be sad while you live, and at last you shall die ; your body was made of dust, and it shall turn into dust again.

How sad Adam and Eve must have felt when they heard this. But this was not all ; they were not allowed to stay in the pretty garden. God drove them out, and would not let them come into the garden again ; so He sent an angel with a fiery sword to stand near it.

Chapter III Cain And Abel

After Aclam and Eve were turned out of the garden, they had two little children — Cain and Abel.

Cain was wicked like Satan, but Abel was good. Abel was always sorry for his sins, and asked God to forgive him.

Cain and Abel had to work hard like Adam their father. Cain dug the ground and planted trees. Abel took care of sheep; he was a shepherd.

ADAM AND EVE AFTER THE EXPULSION. 17

CAIN AND ABEL.

God did not walk and talk with people then, as He had done in the garden; but He spoke sometimes, and allowed

^tywisS Semlays to remember Him, so He taught them a way of keeping it in their minds.

SACRIFICES OF CAIN AND ABEL.

He told them to pile up large stones-this heap was called an altar-then to put some wood upon the altar and take a lamb, or a kid, and bind it w.th a rope to the a fa , then to take a knife and to kill the lamb; and then to burn it. Doing this was called "offering a sacrifice.

CAIN.

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When people did this, God wished them to think how He would one day let His Son die for their sins.

Abel brought lambs, and offered them up to God ; and Abel thought of God's promise ; so God was pleased with him. But Cain did not obey God, but brought fruit instead of a lamb; so God was displeased with Cain, and did not like his sacrifice.

Then Cain was very angry, and hated Abel, because he was good, and because God loved him best.

Then God said: Why are you angry? If you will. love and serve me, I shall be pleased, but if not, you shall be punished.

Still Cain went on in wickedness. Now hear what he did at last. One day he was talking with Abel in a field, when he rose up and killed him.

Abel was the first man that ever died. You see Cain began by hating Abel, and ended by killing him, though he was his brother.

Soon Cain heard the voice of God calling. God said : Where is your brother Abel?

I know not, answered wicked Cain ; am -I my brother's keeper?

But God said : I have seen your brother's blood upon the ground; and you must be punished. You shall leave your father and mother, and wander about on the earth.

Cain said : My punishment is greater than I can bear.

But he went and lived a great way off, and built houses for himself and his children.

So Adam and Eve lost both their sons in one day ; Cain

CAIN AND ABEL.

went a great way off, and Abel died. How they must have wept as they put dear Abel in the ground. But they must have wept still more to think that Cain was so wicked.

But God had pity on Adam and Eve, and gave them another son, who was good; he was called Seth.

The children of Seth feared God ; and God loved them, and called them His children.

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Chapter IV. The Flood

Cain had a great many children ; Seth had a great many children.

At last Adam and Eve died, and Cain died, and Seth died ; but still there were a great many people in the world.

NOAH BUILDING THE ARK.

At first some were good, but at last they all were wicked, except one man : his name was Noah.

THE ARK.

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God was very angry with the wicked people, and determined to punish them.

God said to Noah, I will make it rain so much that all people shall be drowned, except you, and your wife, and your children.

Then God told Noah to make a great ark.

An ark is like a covered boat or ship. Noah made a very great, ark, which would swim upon the top of the water, when God should drown the wicked people.

Noah made the ark of wood, cut down trees, and cut boards, and then fastened them together. He made one door in the ark, and one little window at the top.

Then he told the people that God was going to drown the world, and advised them to leave off their wickedness.

But they would not mind. They went on eating and drinking, not thinking of God, or trying to please Him.

God did not choose that all the beasts, birds and insects should be drowned ; so he told Noah to get some birds, some beasts, and some insects of every sort, and to bring them all into the ark. God could make all these animals go quietly in. Noah put corn, fruit and grass into the ark, for them to eat.

So Noah got some birds of every sort; doves, ravens, eagles, sparrows, larks, robins, and many others, and they flew in at the window. He also got some beasts of every kind, sheep, horses and dogs; and he got insects of every kind, butterflies, ants, and bees.

All these went into the ark ; for God made them gentle and obedient. Then Noah himself went in, with his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Eight people in all were in

RETURN OF THE DOVE.

the ark. But Noah did not shut the door: God shut the door, and Noah knew that he must not open it till God bade him.

Then it began to rain. It rained day and night. How the wicked people must have wished that they had minded Noah ! If they climbed trees, the water soon reached to the tops; if they went up high mountains, the water rose as high as they; for it rained forty days and forty nights. All beasts and birds and men and children died, except those that were in the ark.

At last nothing was to be seen but water, and the ark floating upon the top of the water. Noah lived in the ark almost a whole year.

A long while after it had left off raining, Noah wished to know whether the waters were dried up. He went among his birds and choosing a raven, let it out of the window. A raven is a fierce bird. It did not like the ark ; though there were no trees to be seen, nothing but water, yet the raven would not go back to Noah, but went on flying night and day over the water.

When Noah saw that the raven did not come back, he went among his birds, and chose a dove. A dove is a gentle bird. Noah put it out at the window ; and when it saw nothing but water, the dove came back. Noah knew when his bird came back — it pecked at the window — and he put out his hand and pulled it in.

Noah waited seven days, and then he sent the dove out again ; and this time the dove saw some trees. Yet the dove did not stay, but plucked off a leaf with its beak, and cams

THE FLOOD.

back. Noah must have loved his good little dove for coming back to him again.

Noah waited seven days more, and then he sent out the

COMING OUT OF THE ARK.

dove again, and this time it did not come back. Now Noah knew that the earth was dry, but he waited in the ark till God told him to go out.

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THE FLOOD.

At last God said : Go out of the ark, you and your wife, your three sons and their wives, and the birds, the beasts, the insects, and all the creeping things.

When the door was open, the beasts came out. How glad the sheep must have been to lie down again upon the soft grass, and the goats to climb the high hills.

When the window was open, the birds flew out. How glad they must have been to perch again among the trees.

Noah saw all the green hills and fields again; but where were all the wicked people? He would never see their faces again.

Noah remembered God's goodness in saving him from being drowned. He made a heap of stones for an altar; he took some beasts and birds, and offered a sacrifice to God.

Then God made a kind promise to Noah. He said: I will

NOAH'S SACRIFICE. 29

MB^^H never drown the world again. When it rains, do not think there will be a flood. Look up in the sky after the rain, and

? you will see a bow. That shall be the sign that I remember

i my promise.

What beautiful colors a rainbow has. It puts us in mind of God's kind promise not to drown the world any more.

Chapter V. Abraham, Or The Promised Land

Noah's sons had many children, and they had many children, until at last there were a great many people in the world. These people were bad. They did one very wicked thing. They cut down trees, and made the wood into little images like dolls, and kneeled down and prayed to the images, and said : These images are our gods.

All of them spoke one language. But they grew to think less and less about God, and finally resolved to build a great tower, and in this way make themselves a great name.

So they laid the foundation of an enormous tower, and built upon it until it was very high. But it was never finished, for God was not pleased, and he confused their language so they couid not understand each other.

ABRAHAM, OR THE PROMISED LAND.

The name of the tower was Babel, which means confusion. There are ruins to this day near the river Euphrates, which are thought to be those of the Tower of Babel.

Most of the people in the world worshiped idols, instead of the true God. Sometimes these idols were made of wood and sometimes of stone, or silver, or gold.

God looked down from heaven, and saw the people worshiping idols, and He was very angry.

Then God said : I will choose one man, and teach him to love and be my servant. Now there was a man called Abraham. His father and his friends worshiped idols. God said to Abraham : Leave your own home and friends, and go to a country which I will show, you ; and 1 will bless and take care of you.

Abraham did not know where God would tell him to go, yet he went because he was obedient.

Abraham had a wife called Sarah, whom he loved very much. Sarah went with him. He took some sheep, cows and servants.

There were very few houses to be seen; only fields and trees. Abraham slept in a tent. He made the tent with long sticks, covering it with skins of beasts.

He could move his tent from place to place ; over high hills

BUILDING BABEL. (AFTER NOAH.) 33

ABRAHAM, OR THE PROMISED LAND.

and wide rivers. At last he came to a beautiful country called Canaan, full of trees, flowers, grass and corn. This was the place that God chose for him to live in.

Sometimes he made a heap of stones, called an altar, and offered sacrifices to God. Abraham never worshiped idols ; but nil the people in Canaan did.

God often spoke to Abraham, and said : I will bless you and fake care of you. God was pleased that Abraham had left his own home when He told him to, without asking a question.

ANIMALS USED FOR SACRIFICE.

Chapter VI. Abraham, Or The Promised Child

Abraham and Sarah lived in a tent in the land of Canaan, They had no little child. Abraham was very old, and Sarah was very old too. They were both much older than your grandfather and grandmother. Abraham was almost one hundred, and Sarah was almost ninety.

One night God said to Abraham: Come out and look up to the sky. The sky was full of stars, more than could be

THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM. 35

36 ABRAHAM, OR THE PROMISED CHILD.

counted. God said: You shall have a great many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and they shall have more children, and they too, shall have more children, till there are as many people as there are stars in the sky; and they shall live in the land of Canaan, and the wicked people shall be turned out.

Now Abraham had not even one little child; yet he believed that God would do as He had promised.

One day Abraham was sitting in his tent. It was about twelve o'clock, and very hot. He looked up, and saw three men. He ran to meet them, and said : Pray come and rest yourselves, and let me bring a little water to wash your feet, and a little bread for you to eat.

These men were angels, though they looked like men. They had come from heaven with a message. Angels are often near us, though we cannot see them.

The angels sat outside under the tree. Sarah was in the tent. Abraham said to Sarah : Take some flour, make some cakes, and bake them quickly. Then Abraham took a fat calf, and said to a servant : Kill it, and roast it quickly.

When it was ready the three men began to eat.

While they were eating, they said to Abraham: Where is Sarah? Abraham said: She is in the tent. Then one of the men said: Sarah shall have a son.

Sarah heard what the angel said, and she could not believe that she would really have a child given to her, now she was so very old ; so she laughed to herself.

The next year Sarah's little son was born. His name was Isaac. He was a good child, and God loved him. Abraham and Sarah were much pleased with their little son.

CHILDREN OF BETHEL.

Chapter VII. Abraham, Or The Trial Of Love

At last, Isaac grew up to be a man. He also lived in a tent. They all three loved God, and loved each other very much. It was a happy little family.

Abraham was a very rich man. He had cows, horses, sheep and goats, tents and servants, silver and gold. But he had one thing that he loved more than these. That was his son, his dear son Isaac.

Yet there was one Being whom Abraham loved even better still. That was God.

At last, God said He would try Abraham, to see whether lie loved Him more than any thing in the world — more even than he loved his son Isaac.

You have heard how Abraham used to burn lambs upon altars. Now God said to Abraham : Take your dear son Isaac, and offer him up on an altar in a place that I will show you.

This was a very hard thing for Abraham to do. But Abraham wished to do all God told him, because he loved God so much. So. Abraham cut down some wood to burn; he told two of his servants and Isaac to come with him. He left Sarah in the tent at home. They all four walked on for three days; at last they saw a high hill a great way off.

Abraham knew that was the place where he was to build the altar ; so he said to his servants, Stay here while Isaac and I go and worship God. He took the wood and bound it round s 4 xy v \ M

ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.

ABRAHAM, OR THE TRIAL OF LOVE.

Isaac with a rope. Then he took some fire and a knife, and Abraham and Isaac walked up the hill together.

Isaac did not know that his father was going to offer him as

THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC a sacrifice ; he thought that his father would offer a lamb. So he said, Father. Abraham answered, Here am I, my son. And Isaac said, Here is fire and wood ; but where is the lamb? My son, said Abraham, God will find a lamb. But Abraham did

ABRAHAM, OR THE TRIAL OF LOVE. 41

not tell Isaac that he was to be the lamb, and the boy expected to find one.

At last they came to the top of the hill. Then Abraham took stones, and built an altar; and he took the wood off Isaac's back, and laid it on the altar. Now the time was come when Isaac must know who was to be the lamb. The rope that had bound the wood was fastened round the hands and feet of Isaac, and he was laid upon the wood like a lamb.

Then Abraham took the knife, and lifted up his hand to kill Isaac, when he heard a voice calling, Abraham, Abraham ! It was an angel speaking from heaven. The angel said : Do not kill your son, or hurt him at all ; for now God knows that you love him, because you have given Him your only son.

How glad was Abraham to untie the rope that bound Isaac, and to find that he need not kill him.

Abraham saw a lamb caught in the bushes ; and he took it, and offered it up as a sacrifice instead of Isaac. Abraham thanked God very much for having given him back his son r and the angel called to him out of heaven again, and said : God is much pleased with you for having given up your son ; and God will bless you and all your children and grandchildren, and their children, and one of your children's children shall make all people happy.

When the angel had done speaking, Abraham and Isaac went down the hill together — there was no wood now on Isaacs back.

They found the servants where they had left them, and they all went back together to Sarah.

Chapter VIII. Jacob, Or The Heavenly Dream

In time Abraham and Sarah became very old. At last Sarah died, and Abraham wished to bury her, but he had not a piece of ground in Canaan to bury her in; so he gave some of his silver to the people in Canaan, and bought a field.

The field was full of trees, and there was a cave in it. Abraham took the dead body of Sarah, and put it in the cave.

Abraham now knew that God would soon take him away from this world, so he wished to see his son happily married, but was very much puzzled to know where to find him a wife, for Isaac was forty years old, and had never asked any woman to marry him. In those days fathers could force their sons to do whatever they ordered, and if a man became a grandfather, he was almost a king in his family. Abraham didn't like the young women of the country in which he lived, so he determined to find a wife for his son in another country in which most of his earlier life had been spent. The old man was too feeble to go there himself, and he was afraid his son might make a mistake if he went, so his head servant agreed to go, and he was sent to this distant country with camels and rich presents of gold and silver. This was a very odd errand, to

ANCIENT JEWISH TOMB.

REBEKAH AT THE WELL. 43

BBB

JACOB, OR THE HEAVENLY DREAM.

ANCIENT WELL.

go and hunt a wife for another man, for most men like to

look around for themselves, if they intend to marry.

Well, this old servant at last reached the edge of a city in the land he was sent to, and he saw a large well there with cold, delicious water in it, and a number of young women filling their leather bottles, and carrying them into the city to their homes. His master had told him that God had sent His angel on before him to help him to select the

proper woman; and this was true, for in a few minutes

after the servant's arrival at the well, a beautiful young woman

came up to draw water, and she allowed the servant to drink

out of her bottle, and then she filled the trough with water,

that all of his camels might drink also.

After the camels had taken a good long drink of water,

the old servant asked this kind

young girl where she lived in

the city, and whether her father

would let him sleep in his

house, and let his camels be fed

in his barn. He gave her gifts

of gold, and found that she was

one of his master's distant re- I

lations. She invited him to the ■

house, and treated him very

kindly. When they reached the

EASTERN PITCHERS.

ISAAC GOING OUT TO MEET REBEKAH.

JACOB, OR THE HEAVENLY DREAM.

house, the old servant told her mother and brother that he wished her to go to the country he had come from, and marry his young master.