The palace beautiful, or Sermons to children

Front matter

IHTTW'T

FEB STATES OF AMERICA.

THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL.

Preface

11 Thus he went on his way. But while he was bewailing his unhappy miscarriage, he lift up his eyes, and lo there was a very stately palace before him, the name of which was Beautiful, and it stood by the highway-side.

11 So I saw in my dream that he made haste and went forward, that if possible he might get lodging there. 77 Pilgrim's Progress.

Contents

A STORY, Children Underground; A Dream of the

OVER HILL DIFFICULTY.

"To him that overcometh." — Rev. ii. 7.

I

First, there are those difficulties ivhich God gives us. God might have made it perfectly easy for us to live, without having to eat, sleep, or drink. He might have made us, so that there would have been no necessity for us to work and toil for our living. He might have made it very easy for us to do right, and very difficult for us to do wrong. But we soon find out that it is an up-hill world, and that if we stop striving, or let ourselves run down hill, we will be ruined.

But, my dear children, this up-hill w r orld has not come by chance or accident. There must be a reason for it all. Just as the mountain climb, or the pull at the health lift, or the hour spent at the gymnasium, makes our muscles stronger, and our blood purer, and our health better, for all this exercise, so God has given us in this world, in our bodily life, in our studies and in our efforts after holiness of character — difficulties in the way, on purpose to try us, and bring out our strength.

And so it comes to pass that we must work, in order to get our living; we must separate ourselves from our companions and from our pleasures, in order to study; and we must keep a curb-bit on our passions, if we want to have that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

There is a toy store in Boston, at the corner of Charles and Mt. Vernon Streets, which has a window with penny toys in it. The children love to look in and see all the many toys there, only a cent apiece. A little boy was looking in there the other day. He wanted a whistle, and then when he came out of the store he was crying, because the man took his penny.

I asked him why he was crying.

"'Cause the man took my penny."

"But he gave you the whistle?" I said.

"Yes," said the little fellow, "he gave me the whistle, hut I want my penny too"

Now, my dear children, this is not a world where we can have the whistle and the penny too. We must choose one or the other; and if we want the whistle we must pay for it. If we want health, if we want study, if we want fame, if we want wealth — we must pay for them. They are all to be found " over Hill Difficulty." Remember this first lesson —

Those difficulties which God puts in our way ive must ham to master.

II

Secondly, there are those difficulties which we give ourselves. These come from our own mistakes and errors, our prejudices and wrong impressions. Many people make their own difficulties, all along their pathway of life. They think other people are disagreeable and unpleasant, when all the time it is their own jealousy. They think other people have been unkind to them, and have hurt their feelings, while it is only their own spirits which are so tender, that they have imagined all these things. There are people who, if they could only see it, would find out that they make their own troubles, and it is not, that people do not understand them, or that they are peculiarly unfortunate.

Sometimes when we are children, it is said of us, "Tom," or "Mary," "got out of bed on the left hand side to-day ; everything has gone wrong."

And there are some people who take everything in a left-handed way. Nothing is right to them. They can not see any thing but difficulties, piled along their way.

There was a very unpopular man in a certain town. He did all sorts of unkind things, and said bitter words against every body. One day his minister was talking with him —

"Now, my friend," said the minister, "does it not trouble you, to think how "unpopular you are here in the town, with every body talking against you ? "

"Oh no," said the old sinner. "I like to be despised; for does not the Bible say, 'Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you ? ' So you see I fall back on the promises."

"But go on," said his minister, "with your verse."

"I don't know any more," was the reply.

"Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. You see what they say about you is true," continued the minister, " and they say it for your own sake; they don't say it for Christ's sake."

This man was making all his own troubles, and then was hiding behind the word of God as a defence. His Hill Dif ficulty was not from God, but was from himself.

Now those difficulties which we put in our own way, we must level down to the ground. You know how it is when the civil engineers are building a railroad. The valleys are filled up, and the hills are cut down, and every thing is reduced to a level way. That verse from the fortieth chapter, of Isaiah, which is a prophecy of the way in which the highway was to be made for the glory of God's coming, always seems to me like the description of the building of the iron way of a railroad —

" Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."

Well, this is the way we must do with the difficulties we make for ourselves. We must dig down our big fears, and fill up our hollow wants, and make our lives even and straight and plain.

Eemember then, my dear children, these lessons to-day.

We must find this Hill Difficulty somewhere in our path in life.

We may go around it, or we may go over it. But it is always better to go over it.

The difficulties God gives us we must learn to master. The difficulties we make for ourselves we must learn to reduce, as they do when they cut down the hills on a railroad. And remember, that the reward is given to him who tries hard to get over Hill Difficulty. The promise is

"To Him that Overcometh."

II

THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL.

"The Beautiful gate of the temple."— Acts iii. 10.

HEN the apostles Peter and John went through the old familiar streets of Jerusalem, and up the well known steps of the temple, after our Lord's ascension, they must have felt very lonely, as they looked upon all the places they had so lately seen, in the company of Jesus. Every thing must have reminded them of their absent Lord. There was the famous porch, "Solomon's porch," where they had so often heard him teach. There were the costly stones of which he had spoken. There was the carved tracery work of the rich clusters of grapes, along the corridors, which Jesus had used as an illustration, when they walked together for the last time, from the passover feast to the garden of Gethsemane, when he said, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches."

It was in all probability near the entrance to the temple that our Lord had met the returning group of happy mothers and playful little children, when he said, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

All these memories must have been in the minds of the apostles Peter and John, as they went up into the temple, when after the day of Pentecost, with the help of the Spirit of God, in the presence of all the people, and in that very spot where their Master used to do wonders, they performed their first miracle.

There the poor lame man lay, crying out for help, and piteously begging for money, at the great gate which King Herod had built, and which was the wonder and pride of the devout Jews. But the crowds went on their way, through the gate and up the steps, without thinking any thing about the poor lame beggar.

I suppose this poor lame man took his place by the Beautiful gate of the temple, because it was the gateway, through which the greater portion of the people passed. Then when Peter and John saw him, they took compassion on him, and in the name of their Master commanded him to stand up on his feet. And he who had been lame from his birth, and had never known how it felt to stand upon his feet and walk, went bounding up the steps, like a boy let loose from school — "walking and leaping and praising God."

This Beautiful gate of the temple had been built by King Herod when, to please the Jews, he restored the old temple of their fathers. Solomon's had been the earliest temple of the Jews. This building had been destroyed at the time of the captivity. Then when the captives came back again from Babylon, Zerubbabel, their leader, restored the temple, and tills lasted until King Herod, to please the Jews, built the last temple the Jewish nation ever had; that building known as Herod's Temple, which was finally destroyed in the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Eomans under Titus, in the year a. d. 70.

In this wonderful temple, there were the inner and the outer courts, Solomon's porch, the bridges and gateways, and the narrow steps of the great marble stairway. There were balconies and cloister ways, with carved Corinthian columns, and delicate tracery work. But one of the most beautiful portions of this great temple, whither the tribes continually went up, was that carved gateway — which, because every one admired it so much, was called " The Beautiful gate of the temple"

A beautiful approach to a great building, always makes it more attractive. The famous cathedral of St. Peter's, at Eome, has two great porticos running out in the form of a semi-circle, from each side of the building. In this way the effect is very imposing, as one stands at the entrance to the open place, in front of that majestic edifice. If we are approaching a city, or a church, or a castle in Europe, or a country place in America, it is a very important thing that our first impressions of a place, should be pleasant ones. We all know how this is when we go to a new school, or to a new house where we are to live, or to some place in the country, where we are to spend the summer.

I knew a boy once, who was very anxious to go to Stonington, Connecticut, to spend the summer. He thought it would be a very pleasant place, because there were so many boats there, and he would have good times on the water. So at last his father took him there. They went by the Sound steamer "Plymouth Eock." The next day, however, when they arrived, it was raining. Gilbert didn't like the looks of Stonington. He did not like the boys he saw there. He did not like the boarding place. He thought Stonington was " horrid " and begged his father, with tears in his eyes, to give him five dollars and let him go back again to New York. Stonington in the rain and wet did not have any " Beautiful gate " for Gilbert. The approach to his summer vacation was not a pleasant one, and it did not make his vacation days look attractive.

Sometimes we receive very pleasant impressions of houses, when we call and ring the bell. At other times we receive rude and impolite treatment at the threshold, — and this causes us to carry away unpleasant impressions of the place. A great deal depends, after all, my dear children, upon our first impressions; upon the character of the approach to a place.

The Jewish temple was a splendid building; but after all the "Beautiful gate of the temple," the beautiful entrance, making the approach so fine and the first impressions so pleasant, had a great deal to do with the effect of it all.

And this brings us to our subject to-day. After Hill Difficulty in the " Pilgrim's Progress " comes the Palace Beautiful. After Christian had found his roll again, which he had lost, while asleep in the arbor, he came to the highway, where in the distance he saw the dome of the Palace Beautiful. Here he knew he would find rest and sympathy and comfort. But then he was terribly afraid about the lions in the path. Mistrust and Timorous had been driven back by fear of them, and now what was poor Christian to do?

" Before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off the Porter s lodge, and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he espied two lions in the way. Now, thought he, I see the danger that Mistrust and Timorous were driven back by. (The lions were chained, but he saw not the chains.) Then he was afraid, and thought also himself to go back after them, for he thought nothing but death was before him : but the Porter at the lodge, whose name is Watchful, perceiving that

Christian made a halt, as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying,

" ' Is thy strength so small ? Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith, where it is, and for discovery of those that have none: keep in the midst of the path, and no hurt shall come unto thee.'

"Then I saw that he went on trembling for fear of the lions; but, taking good heed to the direction of the Porter, he heard them roar, but they did him no harm. Then he clapped his hands, and went on till he came and stood before the gate where the Porter was. Then said Christian to the Porter, " ' Sir, what house is this ? And may I lodge here to-night?'

"The Porter answered, 'This house was built by the Lord of the Hill; and he built it for the relief and security of Pilgrims?' The Porter also asked, whence he was, and whither he was going."

Then after Christian had told his story,

"Watchful the Porter rang a bell; at the

THE LIONS.

Palace Beautiful.

sound of which came out of the door of the house a grave and beautiful damsel, named

Discretion At last she asked

his name. So he said, 'It is Christian; and I have so much the more a desire to lodge here to-night, because, by what I perceive, this place was built by the Lord of the Hill, for the relief and security of Pilgrims.' So she smiled ; but the water stood in her eyes ; and, after a little pause, she said, ' I will call forth two or three more of my family.'

" So she ran to the door, and called out Prudence, Piety, and Charity; who, after a little more discourse with him, had him into the family; and many of them, meeting him at the threshold of the house, said, 'Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; this house was built by the Lord of the Hill, on purpose to entertain such Pilgrims in.' Then he bowed his head, and followed them into the house.

. . . Then they appointed Piety, and Prudence, and Chanty to discourse with him."

Now, my dear children, this story of Palace Beautiful in "Pilgrim's Progress" means the Christian Church. The Wicket Gate was the beginning of the Christian life; it was Christian opening the latch at the journey's start. The Interpreter's House was the place where he was instructed by the Spirit of God. Hill Difficulty was the first great trouble Christian met, after God by his Spirit had given him new strength for his pilgrimage. And the Palace Beautiful, where he was taken in and welcomed, and was furnished with strong armor, for the encounters he would meet on the way, stands for the Christian Church, where we are taught and strengthened by the companionship of our fellow Christians, and receive that armor for our warfare, which comes from all the means of grace and Christian helps, which the word of God and the Church of God can give us.

But the approach to the Palace Beautiful was a trying one. There were lions in the way, and it seemed a very difficult thing to get there. Christian was afraid, and was thinking after all of following the example of Timorous and Mistrust, who ran all the way back again to the City of Destruction. This was because Christian had left it late in life, before he began to set out for the Celestial City. And then, too, in the time when John Bunyan wrote, there were a great many trials in the way of those who were faithful to their conscience, and entered the Church. It was an age of persecution like that of the apostles. Bunyan himself, was shut up for twelve years in Bedford jail, because of the conflict of religious opinions which was going on at his time. He would not conform to the existing religious authorities, and so he was imprisoned in the common jail, where he wrote the greater portion of his " Pilgrim's Progress."

And for these reasons, as well as for the reason that it was for the trial of our faith, he represented Christian as coming up to the Palace Beautiful, or the Church, by an avenue of approach, which was very much to be feared, because of the lions which were in the way.

But, my dear children, the Christian Church which our Lord built, for the refreshment and comfort of his poor weary pilgrims, while it is a Palace Beautiful has also a Beautiful gate, like that of the Jewish temple. There is the wide open gateway for grown-up people, and there is also the smaller gateway for the children. There is the open courtyard where the great sacrifices can enter, and there is the side entrance where the little ones can go in.

And so I think that the Beautiful gate of the temple — the entrance to the Palace Beautiful, where all is bright and cheering, where the lions are chained, and can not hurt us, and where we can hear the voice of the Porter Watchful, bidding us welcome — is the fact that children can come into the Church, and that the Church is for them, and has an open gateway for them, over which are written those words of Jesus which never grow old, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

The Wicket Gate, as I have already said, is the entrance to the far-off road which leads to heaven : the " Beautiful gate of the temple," is the entrance to the Church, where like Christian in the happy company of those who were in the Palace Beautiful, we can be made strong, and can be furnished with that spiritual armor of which St. Paul speaks — which is so necessary for us, in the conflict with Satan. Just as in some old castle, or manor, or cathedral, we come right to the place, by some side door or postern gate which is overgrown with ivy, and is made beautiful with age — so in the Christian Church, or the Palace Beautiful, we find one of the most attractive things about it, one which gives us the pleasantest impressions, and makes the approach to it something filled with pleasure — instead of something filled with fear is — the gate which the Master has built for his little ones, — " The Beautiful gate of tlie temple"

I want to speak to you to-day, about two points in this subject.

1st. The meaning of the temple.

2d. The meaning of children in the temple.

First of all, then, is the meaning of this temple. We mean by the temple the Church of Christ.

With the Jews of old, and with Pagan nations, the temple was the great building set aside for the purpose of worship. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the Temple of Minerva at Athens, were wonderful buildings, dedicated to the worship of those heathen divinities. But ever since the time of Christ, his followers have met together in buildings which are known as churches, and all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and name themselves after him are called the Church. The word church means those who are named after Christ. The Greek word for Lord came to be given to those who were the Lord's people, and in this way the word church has come through the Goths from the Greek.

In Scotland to-day the church is called the kirk, and those who know the Greek language, can see how this word has come from the Greek word Lord. The Church then, is made up of all those whom the Lord has called. Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and Samuel, were " called " to be the followers of Jehovah in the Jewish Church; and Peter, and John, and James, and Paul, and Augustine, and others, were called to be the leaders of the Church of Christ.

Lien to-day form societies and institutions. They invite or elect or call, those whom they want to have as their friends. There are lawyers' societies, and societies of doctors, artists, musicians, merchants, bankers, and all kinds of business men. Masons and Odd Fellows, and Independent Orders of Eed Men; college societies, and secret societies, are all like churches founded by men. Political societies, and fire companies, and military companies, elect or choose their own members and officers. But no man or set of men established the Church of Jesus Christ. Our Lord founded this wonderful society in his own name. The Spirit of God is in this society, the Church, just as a mainspring is in a watch, or steam is in an engine, and it is the power of God, which keeps it alive to-day.

Jesus said to his disciples before he ascended into heaven, when he gave them his final commission to preach, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

And it is because the power of God is in his Church to-day, that it has stood all these eighteen hundred years, while kingdoms and empires have been made, and have been broken, and all sorts of changes have taken place in the history of the world. It is because the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, has been able to have within its fold the most beautiful lives and characters that the world has ever seen, and has given to those who have entered it, the strongest weapons for overcoming sin and Satan, that it has been called the Palace Beautiful — a citadel whose strength is in the beauty of its holiness.

II.

Secondly we come to our other lesson : the meaning of the children in tJie temple.

Man-made churches, and human societies have no place for children. We do not find little children at doctors' gatherings, and meetings of bank directors. We do not find children in congress or in court. But we do find them in the Church.

When Jesus came into Jerusalem, for the last time before his death, he came in triumph, with the people waving palm-branches in their hands, and spreading garments in the way. They shouted hosanna, and welcomed the prophet as he entered the city.

The chief priests did not know what to make of all this excitement. The city was all in an uproar, and people were calling out, " Who is this ? " as Jesus passed along. Then the multitude said, " This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth."

Then after Jesus had healed the blind and the lame, who congregated about the courtyard, and had cleansed the temple, overthrowing the tables of the money-changers, and the stalls of those who sold doves and pigeons for the smaller sacrifices, and had driven those irreverent intruders out — we read these words:

"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? "

It is this story in the life of Jesus which we are so glad to remember, when we sing that hymn beginning —

"When his salvation bringing To Zion, Jesus came, The children all stood singing

Hosanna to his name; Nor did their zeal offend him,

But as he rode along, He let them still attend him, And smiled to hear their song. Hosanna to Jesus they sang."

Now, my dear children, there is no story in all the life of the Saviour on earth, so full of love and meaning for the young, as this welcome which Jesus gave to the little children in the temple! He rebuked those surly priests and scribes who would have said, "Go home, children; get away with you: this is no place for you." He welcomed those little children who sang Christ's praises, and found a place for them in the great hall of King Herod's Temple.

And ever since that day, when Jesus would not let the children be driven out of the

Jewish, temple, the latch has been unfastened, and the beautiful gate of the Christian Church has been wide open, for the little ones to come in.

In our Sunday schools; in our children's services; in our Christian training; in our library books; in our bright and joyous songs and hymns of praise; in the place which childhood has in the Christian Church, with all its care for children, and its education of the poor, and the ignorant, and the helpless ones; in mission schools, and church homes, and children's hospitals — we see how many are the little footprints of the children who keep pressing into the Christian Church — through

u The Beautiful Gate of the Temple!"

And in this way we learn that the Church which our Lord founded, to teach us and guide us, and to give us strong armor for our warfare with sin, is like the Palace Beautiful, where Christian was so warmly welcomed ; and that the little gate — the Beautiful gate of the temple — is the welcome which Jesus gives now to the children, as he gave it once before, when he would not let them be driven from the house of God.

III. Cuts

TESTS.

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price." — Acts v. 1, 2.

^N one of Jacob Abbott's stories for chil- C?5 dren, there is an account of the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. It is in the Marco Paul series. Marco Paul was a boy who went travelling about, seeing sights and learning a great deal in this way. One book is "Marco Paul in Boston"; another is " Marco Paul on the Erie Canal," and the book to which I refer, is called "Marco Paul at the Springfield Armory." They are very interesting books just as all Mr. Abbott's books are,— "The Eollo Books," "The Franconia Stories," "The Jonas Books," and Abbott's histories.

When Marco Paul visited the Springfield Armory, he saw the different ways in which they manufactured guns, bayonets, and cannon. There was boring and drilling and casting; there were fires and forges and anvils, arid everything that was necessary for the manufacturing of weapons of war. Among other things which Marco Paul saw, was the way in which they tested bayonets. First they hung heavy weights on them, to be sure that they would bend in one direction, and then the gun -makers bent the shining steel in the other direction, so as to be sure that they would not break in the day of action. Every gun and every bayonet in the Springfield Armory was always tested, before it was sent out to the United States Arsenals, so as to be sure that it would stand, when the day for its use came. Now, this life of ours, is like the place where these guns and bayonets are tested. We are all tried here in this world, to see what is in us; just as we throw down a piece of coin upon the counter, to see if it is good money or not. Sometimes people can not stand these tests: they are like guns which blow up, or like bayonets which snap, when they are tried, and put to the strain.