Part 4

3. Even in its death the fly renders a most substantial service. It forms the food of innumerable song-birds, which, apart from the fly, would never be found in our land at all. How dull and lifeless would the months of the summer be without the swallow, the willow-warbler, and the fly-catcher. And yet these feed almost entirely on flies. "And if the trout had not discovered what a savoury morsel the fly is that dances on the stream, what a very dull, stupid amusement would fishing be! Many a schoolboy would lose the greatest treat of a summer holiday if there were no flies, and no trout that appreciated them."

The niche filled by the fly is therefore a very important one. It neither lives a useless life nor dies a useless death. Its sphere of usefulness is as striking and suggestive as the wondrous delicacy of its form and structure, and they both point us to the Great Creator whose greatness and goodness are manifested through all His works--

"Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall."

And if the boy be the father of the man, we may justly emphasise another lesson--that the law of kindness ought to rule in the least as well as in the greatest--that he who begins by torturing a fly may end with something far more solemn--_a human heart_.

*The Pearl-Oyster.*

"Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet."--Matt. vii. 6.

The disciples of Jesus are here told not to talk too freely of their spiritual enjoyments before men of debased tastes. Religion is brought into contempt, and its professors insulted, when it is forced upon those who cannot value it and will not have it. "Throw a pearl to a swine," says Matthew Henry, "and he will resent it, as if you threw a stone at him; _reproofs_ will be called _reproaches_." Such men cannot appreciate the jewels of Christianity, and like swine, which prefer peas to pearls, they will trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.

On the other hand, this caution is not to be carried too far. We are not to set down all our neighbours as dogs and swine, and then excuse ourselves from trying to do them good on this poor plea. The Saviour's golden rule shows us a more excellent way: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." We are to deal with each other as God deals with us. He does not judge us uncharitably; but still less does He give that which is holy to the dogs. He gives to each what is suitable to each. He sends His _rain_ on the just and on the unjust; but He keeps His _love_ for those who worship and love His Son (John xiv. 21). And that is His example to you and me. We must seek His Spirit to guide us in all things, that being made wise with His wisdom, we may ourselves possess the pearl of great price and not cast our pearls before swine.

I.--BUT WHAT IS A PEARL?

It is a well-known gem found in several shell-fish, such as the common mussel and the oyster. How it came to be there was long a puzzle to man. In ancient times they imagined it was formed from the dew of heaven. The sparkling dewdrops and the shining pearls were so like each other that they adopted the beautiful fancy that the pearl was begotten from the dew. To explain the shining lustre of the gem this other detail was added, that just at the moment when the conception was taking place there was a vivid flash of lightning, and the pearl caught something of the fiery gleam. All these fancies are read together by one ancient writer, when he says regarding the pearl of great price, "This Pearl is Jesus, whom the virgin conceived from the divine lightning."

But all this, of course, is pure fancy. A pearl is not formed from the dew, and still less is its lustre derived from the lightning. Science would describe it as the result of an accident. It is "an _accidental_ concretion of shelly matter deposited within the shell of certain mollusca." If you open an oyster-shell you find the inside of _it_ all covered over with a bright smooth covering of shelly matter. This is laid on in innumerable layers, the one above the other, and the thinner and more transparent the layers, the more perfect is the lustre. Now, if any hard substance like a grain of sand gets inside the shell, this shelly matter begins to gather round it, coat after coat, which harden as they gather, until the pearl is fully formed. It is said the Chinese take advantage of this fact to get the little creatures to make imitation pearls. They insert round pellets between the valves of the mussel, and in a short time the creature deposits a coating of this pearly substance upon them, and they can scarcely be detected from true pearls.

A pearl, then, is a grain of sand transformed into a precious gem. It began as a kind of thorn in the flesh, and ended in a jewel so valuable that thousands of pounds cannot buy it. The unwelcome intruder was really an angel in disguise. The pain became a pearl.

And do not all human pearls come in the same way? Is there any gain without pain? or is there any perfection without the fire of suffering? No. The fruit-tree does not flourish apart from the pruning-knife, and the fruit is not ripened apart from the scorching heat of the sun. Iron is not hammered into shape until it has been thrust into the furnace, and character does not glisten like a gem until it has been polished by the lapidary. And thus we find the poets saying that they learn in suffering what they teach in song; and the young people will not forget that even Jesus--the Pearl of great price--was made "perfect through sufferings" (Heb. ii. 10). So that Carlyle was well within the mark when he wrote: "Thought, true labour of any kind, highest virtue itself, is it not the daughter of pain?" Yes, every thorn may be a blessing in disguise. Every pain may become a pearl.

There is one gem in the character of Jesus that all you young people would do well to imitate. I mean the _pearl of obedience_. Though He knew that God was His Father, and the temple was His Father's house, He went down to Nazareth with Joseph and Mary, and was "_subject unto them_." That was the keynote of His life. To obey was better than sacrifice; and even at the tragic close He was "obedient unto death." Is that the ornament, children, with which you are trying to adorn your character? Are you in loving subjection to your parents on earth, and are you learning to be in subjection to your Father in heaven? That can only be obtained in one way--the way Jesus won it--the way of self-sacrifice and self-denial. Every pearl is the product of a pain. Jesus _learned obedience_ by the things which He _suffered_ (Heb. v. 8).

II.--THE VALUE OF PEARLS.

The most valuable pearl-fisheries are to be found in the Persian Gulf and on the western coast of Ceylon. The annual produce of the former is said to be over L200,000; while that of the latter is set down at even a higher sum. The value of single pearls has sometimes been enormous. Those who have read Rider Haggard's books will remember the graphic way in which he describes an incident in the life of Cleopatra. That unscrupulous woman, at a supper with Mark Antony, took from her ear one of a pair of pearls of the value of L80,000, and having dissolved it in vinegar, swallowed the absurdly precious draught; and she would have done the same with its fellow had it not been rescued from her wanton pride.

But however valuable pearls may be, there are other things more valuable still. Holy Scripture mentions three.

(1.) *Wisdom*.--"No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies" (Job xxviii. 18). The wisdom here referred to is the divine wisdom--the plan or purpose of God exhibited in the universe. But the same truth applies to human wisdom--the gaining of knowledge and discretion in human affairs. The price of this is far above rubies. It is not to be had for pearls. How then shall a boy get it? Only by hard work and diligent application. He must shun the company of the idle and the frivolous, and give his time and thought to the companionship of books. He must show diligence at school, obedience in the home, and reverence in the church. All his lessons must be faithfully learned, every task must be faithfully performed. And if he learn thus early to sow well in youth, a harvest of intelligence and wisdom will be the reward. And this will be a possession more valuable than pearls, for

"Just experience shows in every soil That those who _think_ must govern those who _toil_."

(2.) *Good Works*.--"In like manner, that they adorn themselves ... not with gold or pearls, but with good works" (1 Tim. ii. 9). The wisdom must show itself in outward action. If the fountain be pure, so also must the flowing stream. The hand must follow the heart.

And all this in the way of adornment--the adornment of a good woman; and girls especially will not miss the lesson that broidered hair and golden trinkets are not the only kind of ornaments. Peter speaks of the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price; and Paul points us here, in 1st Timothy, to the beauty and excellency of good works. She who is arrayed in meekness and kind-hearted generosity has no need of flounces and finery. She may even say of all other ornaments, "Unadorned, adorned the most."

(3.) *Salvation* (Matt. xiii. 46).--Both wisdom and good works must show themselves in religion. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the best of good works is to believe on Him whom He hath sent (John vi. 29). Till this is done, we are like the merchant man seeking goodly pearls. He found a great many; for this beautiful world in which we live has many precious secrets to reveal to the earnest seeker. But not until we find salvation through Jesus does the great _Eureka_, "I have found it," burst from our lips. This is the treasure which all the wealth of the world cannot buy. Not all the thousands of Cleopatra could lay it at her feet. And yet, wonder of wonders, it is given to the penitent soul without money and without price. Jesus says, "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayst be clothed." "He that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." This is true wisdom, and this is the soundest morality, to come and find in the salvation of Jesus _the Pearl of Great Price_.

*Some Other Shells.*

I.

Happy sunlight on the sea, Sparkling diamonds, all for me; Wavelets chasing for the land, There to kiss the golden sand.

See! a floating, straying shell, Run! it has a tale to tell; Children, with their eager eyes, Splash the water, seize the prize.

Hold it to the little ear, List and tell me what you hear.. Music? Yes, for you and me, That's the music of the sea.

Down below the water blue, There it lived and there it grew, Gazing through its watery dome, Happy in its ocean home.

List'ning there both night and day, Hearing what the wild waves say, Watching sea-weed float along, There it learned the ocean's song.

II.

But the children never still, See them leap like mountain rill, Ringing out their laughter sweet, Sending forth their little fleet.

Full of mirth, but leaving me Musing by another sea, Casting with its angry swell At my feet another shell.

There upon the sand to rest, With a babe upon her breast, Came a mother, not a wife, Tossed upon the sea of life.

As she sat and sat alone, Did she hear another moan? Waves that smiled, then swept the deck, Till they left this shattered wreck?

Yes, while tear-drops rose and fell, There I heard the murmuring shell; Strange the tale it brought to me, Moaning echoes of the sea.

Round and round the eddying world Had this straying shell been whirled; Round and round lay blackest night-- Moths see nothing but the light.

Tossed by sin and idle care, Pain and anguish found her there, Young and mirthful, fair but frail, There she learned the ocean's wail.

III.

Hold it to the little ear, Children, tell me what you hear. Nothing? No, you cannot know All this human tide of woe.

Would I be a child again, Not to know another's pain? Mourn like some for childhood's hours, Gathering nought but summer's flowers?

No. I want the power to tell, Power to hear the murmuring shell, Power to catch the rising moan, Power to make its wail my own.

Learning thus to feel with pain, I shall be a child again, But a child experience taught, Child in heart--a man in thought.

Then I'll hear the echoing swell In the murmur of each shell, And with touch of friendship warm, Try to lull the raging storm.

Lulled to rest, its song shall be, Murmurs of _another_ sea-- Heavenly love shall thrill and dwell In the murmur of the shell.

* * * * *

Of that higher sea to tell, Make me, Lord, an echoing shell, That the world may hear in mine Echoes of the love divine.

*The Calf.*

"Ye shall go forth and gambol as calves of the stall."--Mal. iv. 2 (R.V.).

Malachi is known as "the last of the prophets." With him the sun of a thousand years was sinking in the west. It had its rise in the prophetical school of Samuel, its zenith in the glowing visions of Isaiah, and its setting in the earnest appeals of Malachi. But before it loses all its glory in the gathering twilight, it gives the fair promise of another and better sun. Malachi is led to write--"Unto you that fear My name shall the _Sun of righteousness_ arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth and gambol as calves of the stall." He had frequently seen the young calves let loose in the morning sunshine, and as he stood and watched their happy gambols, they became a kind of illustration to him of far higher joys. They led him to think of the coming "day of the Lord," when, in the brightness of that better Sun, those that feared His name would rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. They too would go forth like the beasts of the field and skip and play in the sunshine.

"To hail Thy rise, Thou better Sun, The gathering nations come, Joyous, as when the reapers bear The harvest treasures home."

The Bible imagery of the calf, however, has much more to tell us than this, and I propose to-day to direct your attention to three points.

I.--THE CALF AS AN IDOL.

In Exodus xxxii. we have the story of the _golden calf_. It was a solemn hour in the history of the Hebrews. Moses was up on Mount Sinai communing with God, and all the people were waiting in the plain. They had watched their leader ascend the hill and disappear within the cloud; and for well-nigh forty days they had been waiting for his return. But evidently they were waiting in vain. Day by day they had expected the cloud to lift and pass away, but there it was still lying on the rocky summit, brooding and dark as ever. They began to lose heart. They gradually grew impatient, and finally they broke out in actual rebellion. They turned to Aaron and said, "Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him."

And then follows the sad story of Israel's idolatry. Moses on the hill was receiving a new revelation. He was receiving from Jehovah the two tables of stone. And these were the first two lines inscribed upon them: "_Thou shalt have no other gods before Me_." "_Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image_." And lo! at the very moment that these words were being written, the chosen people at the foot of the hill were breaking off their golden earrings and making a molten calf. They were renouncing the worship of Jehovah and setting the worship of Egypt--the worship of the _bull_, Apis, in its place.

When Moses came down and beheld this idol, he was completely overcome. In a great outburst of grief and anger he dashed the tables out of his hand and break them beneath the mount. Israel had sinned a great sin. They were a stiff-necked and rebellious people. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, "and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men."

It is the same taproot of sin which is the cause of all our sorrows. We, too, have sinned against the Lord. We have made some kind of golden calf, and set it in the place of Jehovah. And unless we are saved from the awful consequences of our sin, we also will suffer, as those rebellious Hebrews suffered, because of the idol which we have made. This is the first lesson that we may learn from the Bible imagery of the calf. It sets before us the true nature and the terrible consequences of sin.

II.--THE CALF AS A SACRIFICE.

The stain of sin may be deep, but the power of redemption is deeper. Moses said unto Aaron, "Take thee a bull calf for a sin offering, and offer it before the Lord" (Lev. ix. 2). Not indeed that the blood of calves could take away sin.

"Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away the stain."

But that was the Old Testament way of setting forth the great fact of redemption. The offering of the bull calf was a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus. For as we read in Hebrews ix. 11, "Christ having come a high priest of good things to come, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." This is the hope and plea of every poor sinner. "The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

And as a sacrifice, the bull calf _could not be redeemed_. The first-born of man might be redeemed, as also the firstling of any unclean animal; but not so the firstling of an ox. It was a _clean_ animal, and its blood must be sprinkled upon the altar (Num. xviii. 17). In this way it shadowed forth the sacrifice of Christ, of whom it was said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." As our Divine Isaac He came to Mount Moriah, but there was no ram found there to take His place as the sacrifice. He alone was a perfect offering. He alone was clean; and therefore He alone as the Great High Priest offered Himself as the victim. He poured out His soul unto death. And it is to this Saviour that all you young people must look. "Neither is there salvation in any other: there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Looking unto Jesus, loving Him, and resting on Him--that is the way we enter into life. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

This is the second lesson we learn from the Bible imagery of the calf. Sin is followed by sacrifice. The molten calf gives place to the calf that was slain.

III.--THE CALF AS A FEAST.

You remember the story of the Prodigal Son contained in the Gospel of Luke. In that pearl of parables we have the mention of the "_fatted calf_." This was considered a great delicacy among the Jews. Large numbers were carefully selected and fattened for the purpose. And this is what we are to understand by "calves of the stall." Even the witch of Endor had "a _fat_ calf" in her house, which she killed and dressed for King Saul (1 Sam. xxviii. 24). And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched "a calf _tender and good_," and prepared it for the three angels who had visited him in the plains of Mamre (Gen. xviii. 7). This was hospitality worthy of both kings and angels; and this is the kind of entertainment which is set before every returning prodigal. They feed on angels' food. They eat of the finest of the wheat. They are brought into Christ's banqueting house, and His banner over them is love.

Did ever any one sin a more grievous sin than the prodigal? Was ever any one visited with a sadder and sorer punishment? Like the silly sheep, he had strayed away into the far-off country; and there, in that distant land, he found himself in penury and rags. He would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. But the Shepherd found the sheep. The poor wanderer came to himself in that distant land, and found his way back again to his father's house. And what was the result? His home-coming was celebrated by a feast. The father said unto the servant, "Bring hither the _fatted calf_ and kill it."

"A day of _feasting_ I ordain, Let mirth and song abound, My son was dead, and lives again, Was lost, and now is found.

Thus joy abounds in paradise, Among the hosts of heav'n, Soon as the sinner quits his sins, Repents and is forgiven."

The sin, the sacrifice, the feast. The golden calf, the slain calf, the fatted calf. The first is ours, the second is Christ's, and the third is designed for _both_. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup _with him_, and he _with Me_." Nay, Jesus Himself is both sacrifice and feast. He could turn to the Jews and say, "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life." "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever."

We must repent of the sin, we must trust in the sacrifice, and we must feed upon the feast. Not till then shall we be fired with the hope and filled with the joy of the last of the prophets--"Unto you that fear My name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings: and ye shall go forth and _gambol_ as calves of the stall."

*The Bat.*

"In that day a man shall cast his idols to the moles and the bats."--Isa. ii. 20.

The bat is only mentioned three times in the Bible, and it cannot be said at a first reading that the references are very flattering. They seem to justify the kind of horror which most people feel when they encounter a bat; for it is generally regarded as "a creature of such ill-omen that its very presence causes a shudder, and its approach would put to flight many a human being."

Moses speaks of it as one of the unclean animals--a creature neither to be eaten as food nor offered in sacrifice; while Isaiah describes it as a fit companion for the mole, or rather the mole-rat, which crawls away from the sunshine, and seems to love the darkness rather than the light, because its deeds are evil. Clearly the little "night-flier" has a good deal to contend with in winning for itself a place among the world's favourites. It has enough against it to crush an Atlas, not to speak of a bat; and if it rise to a position of honour after all, it does so in spite of the incubus of general dislike and loathing which the ignorance of superstition has heaped upon it. But all true bats, like all true boys, but seek to rise above any such reputation.

I.--THE JEWISH PROHIBITION.