Part 1

Chapter 13,641 wordsPublic domain

Transcriber's Notes:

Italicized text is rendered as _text_, bold text is rendered as =text=.

THE BIBLE OBJECT BOOK

_=The=_ =BIBLE OBJECT BOOK=

A Book of Object Lessons Which Are Different

WRITTEN IN PLAIN ENGLISH AND IN COMMON WORDS

_By_ Rev. CLARENCE HERBERT WOOLSTON, D. D.

_Author of_ "SEEING TRUTH," "PENNY OBJECT LESSONS, Nos. 1 and 2," "THE GOSPEL OBJECT BOOK," and "THE CURIOSITY BOOK." Also Originator of the "SEEING TRUTH PACKETS," Containing the Lessons and Objects Needed

PHILADELPHIA THE JUDSON PRESS BOSTON CHICAGO LOS ANGELES KANSAS CITY SEATTLE TORONTO

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

_This book is dedicated to the many Boys and Girls who have both heard and seen these visual addresses at Bethany Hall, Winona Lake, Indiana and to Mrs. Carrie Besserer who made these wonderful gatherings possible_

_For what shall it profit a church if it gain the whole world and lose its own children_

=INTRODUCTION=

Dr. C. H. Woolston is the one man I know who is most eminently fitted to write a book for children or for the teachers of children. First, because he loves and understands children; for work among children is an affair of the heart. In the second place, through many years he has proved his theories by actual, practical experience and testing. We know that his plans really work.

He is being urged by many of his eminent friends in children's work to give all his time to this great service. He will have a large mission in teaching preachers and teachers how to win children and young people to Christ. For twenty years he has appeared in the great Bible conference at Winona Lake, Ind., and has always been received by adults with great appreciation while the children have hailed him with huge delight.

We must all admit that there is nothing of greater importance among all the problems of the church today. While he has not been able to give all his time to this work he has been most generous and patient in showing others how to use the mechanical and wonder object-lessons in the teaching of children.

In this work he gives the worker something entirely new and off from the beaten path of the regulars, something which would cost months of study and research and literally hundreds of dollars to acquire.

In addition to the wisdom of this and other works he has published and thus given to the world, he will always be glad to help in any of the problems of winning for Jesus the children that may present themselves. His study is an open post-office. Write to him.

And so, for these reasons and many others I am especially glad to commend this newest book of Doctor Woolston. I hope the readers of this book may be able to have him in their churches or in Bible conferences some time. To know him personally is a rare pleasure. He is, in my estimation, the greatest talker to children we have in this country at this present time. His new methods of reaching children and adults through their eyes has given him the highest place among gospel illustrators.

HOMER RODEHEAVER SUNDAY PARTY, Winona Lake, Ind.

=PREFACE=

These short addresses are designed to help the busy pastor get a flying start in his effort to fill the minds of his church children with compelling imagery and their eyes with the sweet lessons by Seeing Gospel Truth.

I have made no attempt at phrase-making, nor have I sought to create a literary marvel.

I have used the greatest simplicity of language at my command, in some cases employing the unpolished words of the children themselves. This I have done because many of these chapters have been framed for their eyes and ears, and it has always been my ambition that the children should hear the truth in their own tongue.

Perhaps my words and sentences would not pass the Sanhedrin of the universities, but my ideas are on the run to catch the child before the ever-shortening days of youth have passed, and perhaps sometimes I have run by some of the standards of the school.

When Evangelist D. L. Moody was in London, England, the first time some of the critical divines made sport of the fact that Mr. Moody in pronouncing the word "Jerusalem" did so in two syllables. The secular press also took up the matter and made high glee over it. C. H. Spurgeon, then in all his glory at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in one of his sermons used the following language, "I am glad there is one minister in London who is in such haste to give the gospel to the people that he does not stop to pronounce every syllable."

The King's business requires haste, and this business of gaining the King's children requires double haste. This will explain some of the sentences of this book that may cause you to stop and think why I said them. C. H. Spurgeon has given you my answer.

These talks aim to fill the eye as well as the ear. This is the reason that a line of simple objects is used.

These objects are golden hooks which hang up ideas in the hall of memory to stay "put" evermore.

Some of the chapters are designed for children and adults alike, for there are some adults who, like Peter Pan, refuse to grow up and still "like to see things."

Read over each chapter twice before you attempt to work it out.

Think yourself back to childhood's happy days and "be a child again just for tonight," and then when your ideas are romping about in your head with the zest of youth, tell your lesson and show them "the things."

And may it come to pass that you may turn the Wonderful Eyes and Hearts of the Wonderful Children toward the "Rose of Sharon" as the rose of the garden turns toward the light of the Sun.

This is the prayer of the author to whom God has given the distinguished honor of talking to a million and a half of little folks about Jesus, "who loves the little children of the world."

C. H. WOOLSTON. EAST BAPTIST STUDY, PHILADELPHIA, PA. April, 1926.

=CONTENTS=

CHAPTER PAGE 1. JUST A FEW WORDS TO THE CHILDREN ............................. 1 2. WHEN THE BABY DISCOVERS AMERICA! ............................. 3 3. A MILLION-DOLLAR CIGARET ..................................... 5 4. HEALING LEAVES ............................................... 10 5. WHAT THE BIBLE IS LIKE ....................................... 12 6. JUDGING BY APPEARANCES ....................................... 17 7. A CHILD FOR SALE ............................................. 20 8. WEEDS ........................................................ 25 9. THE SWORD OF -- .............................................. 28 10. WHAT CAN TAKE A WAY MY SINS? ................................. 33 11. WORDS OF ANGER ............................................... 37 12. THE COPPER-FACE GIRL ......................................... 41 13. MAKING A CHURCH FLAG ......................................... 44 14. AN IMMORTALITY LESSON ........................................ 48 15. "OFF FOR HAPPY LAND" ......................................... 51 16. FORGOTTEN HOLY NAMES ......................................... 55 17. I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS ....................................... 59 18. THE LORD'S PRAYER IN CANDLES ................................. 62 19. HOW GOD COVERS MY SINS ....................................... 68 20. WHAT THE FLAG SIGNALS SAY .................................... 71 21. THE DEVIL'S GOAT ............................................. 75 22. SHINING TRUTH ................................................ 77 23. THE BEATITUDES IN COLORS ..................................... 82 24. THE GOSPEL IN THE FLAG ....................................... 84 25. WHAT THE LETTERED BLOCKS SAID ................................ 87 26. BLOTS TAKEN AWAY ............................................. 89 27. A LOST HEART, AND WHERE IT WAS FOUND ......................... 92 28. "BRIGHTEN YOUR CORNER AS A BUSINESS" ......................... 97 29. THE POSTAGE-STAMP AS A PREACHER .............................. 101 30. CANDLES IN THE PULPIT ........................................ 105 31. A POST-CARD SERMON ........................................... 109 32. MAKING JOY ................................................... 112 33. YE LITTLE OLD FOLKS .......................................... 114 34. THE CRUCIFIXION IN COLORS .................................... 116 35. THE GOSPEL BY RIBBONS ........................................ 119 36. JOINING THE CHURCH ........................................... 122 37. GOD'S MAIL-BAG ............................................... 126 38. TURNING THE PALMS INTO A CROSS ............................... 131 39. JESUS CHANGES THINGS ......................................... 134 40. THE BUNDLE OF LIFE ........................................... 137 41. THE NORTH POLE OF THE BIBLE .................................. 142 42. OBJECT-LESSONS FOR SPECIAL DAYS .............................. 146 43. PUTTING A GOD TO BED ......................................... 174 44. HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS FLAG ................................. 179 45. THAT SOCIAL HOUR ............................................. 183 46. "THE WORDLESS BOOK" .......................................... 189 47. THE HEART OF SEVEN DEVILS .................................... 196 48. SHOW YOUR COLORS ............................................. 204 49. THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN STORY FORM ................. 208 50. WHAT TEN CORDS COULD NOT DO .................................. 210 51. OBJECT-LESSONS EXTRAORDINARY ................................. 214 52. A BOTTLE OF MOSQUITOES ....................................... 222 53. A CHRISTMAS TREE IN AUGUST ................................... 228 54. THE JUNIOR POST-OFFICE ....................................... 232 55. THE BLACK FLAG ............................................... 236 56. HOW FIVE SPADES DUG THROUGH .................................. 240 57. THE KAISER'S CUP ............................................. 245 58. HOW TO MAKE A RAG MAP ........................................ 248 59. STATIONS OF SALVATION ........................................ 252 60. A SUGGESTIVE PROGRAM ......................................... 261 61. A MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER ................................. 263

=LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS=

OPPOSITE PAGE A Group of Children Just After a Happy Hour Service at Winona Lake, Indiana; These Represent the Children to Whom This Book is Dedicated .............Frontispiece

Rev. C. H. Woolston and Professor Homer Rodeheaver ............... 18

A Meeting of Children in the East Baptist Church, Philadelphia (Where the Author is Pastor) Giving Attention to Object-lessons Described in This Book ..................... 98

Atlas, the Big Lion, a Docile, Friendly Beast, Performing for the Children ............................................. 216

A Baby Lion, Six Weeks Old, Receiving the Name of the Youngest Baby in the Audience ................................ 218

A Baby Leopard, Seven Months Old, Used to Illustrate the Scripture Reference to the Leopard's Spots ................... 220

The Bear Is Called the Clown of the Animal Kingdom. This Baby Bear, Visiting a Children's Meeting in Doctor Woolston's Church, Was Used to Illustrate the Sin of Stubbornness ................................................... 222

JUST A FEW WORDS TO THE CHILDREN

SOME HELPFUL WORDS TO THE SPEAKER TO CHILDREN=

At some time during the service the minister will say, "Now just a few words to the children." He has a big task before him, and if he is strong enough to know _how_ to say these "few words," is he learned enough to know _what_ to say in these "few words"?

Many a great preacher meets his Waterloo here. Will he retire beaten dragging the white flag of surrender after him, and hang low his head because of the conscious defeat, or will he with flying banners put it over in these "few words," and take his place in line with the world's greatest conquerors?

He must remember all children will not prick up their ears and listen hard just because he is a great preacher. Children are great critics. Their criticism takes the form of not listening. They know perfectly the art of withdrawing attention when they are not interested in the "few words," but their minds are not vacant during the unheeded "few words." They are counting the number of people present in the pews directly in front of them. They are watching the inattention of the members of the choir. They are thinking of their games of yesterday, or something they received at Christmastime, or of some book just given them as a birthday gift. They may be whispering or nudging each other, or if they have a bit of pencil with them they may be sketching caricatures of the deacons before them or even of the minister who is addressing them.

The little girl's motherly thought may be straying home to a sick doll, or may be smiling at the funny ways of puppy or kitten that she just happens to remember. The boy may be smiling over some funny situation he saw yesterday at the "movies." They are all very resourceful in themselves to save them from being bored by an address that has lost its way in its pilgrimage from the minister to their pews in which they are seated. The "just a few words" like birds have taken to their wings, and gone over the children's heads to the "land of nowhere." The minister, if he has normal eyes and a common mind, is conscious of the fact he has "missed fire," and wonders what he can do to put it over so it will stay "put"! If he thus thinks, there is large hope for him, because he has not graduated from the learner's bench. Let him be a child again and think as a child. Let him learn how to talk to them and not about them, and then his "just a few words" will become as interesting to their mind as the toys they left behind them. This is worth the effort; even the adults who are only "tall kids" will like the talk better than "the preaching at" in which they have only a feeble interest. Even the "polar bear" deacon will thaw out and catch himself smiling at the "few words" of the preacher that just "talks."

Happy is the man who can interest the child in his "few words" and can also interest the child in its efforts to translate the "few words" into big acts on the inside building of a child's character.

WHEN THE BABY DISCOVERS AMERICA!

SOME IMPORTANT THOUGHTS FOR WORK AMONG CHILDREN=

A Study of the Object as Well as the Subject

Every little cradle is a ship starting on the voyage of life. Little Eyes looks out from its cabin windows and discovers that the land it sees is America. It is not dreaming of lakes sublime or rivers majestic. It is not in fact a discoverer. It is a _see-er_. It is seeing things, real things, in the land it has just discovered. Its first adventure is the finding of Mother, which means it has discovered perfect love, protection, and tender care. Mother is heaven, her shining eyes are the stars. There is a cry in the night. Mother understands its language and gives her holy ministrations. Watch Mother, she is the teacher God has trained. Listen to her first "few words." Baby does. Mother understands. God give the preacher this understanding. Learn how Mother her first "few words," then "try, try again." Learn your first lesson in the language of a child. It loves picture words. It learns the names of common things first. Things fix themselves in the eyes. Its language is born as it looks. Looks at a cow and calls it "moo cow." A picture word with action in it! It looks at a lamb and coins its own word "Baa-lamb." Teach the children in words full of pictures. They see objects and fix on them certain ideas. Do the same in teaching them in their older days. Clothe objects with ideas, and they will shine like stars in the children's understanding. Words that are dear and familiar to adult church-goers are so by long and sacred associations. Children have no such relation to our "churchly" words.

This does not mean that we are to talk down to them and use "baby" or silly talk. Children know when they are being "talked down to," and resent it. When the preacher arrives to address the children in a "few words," he should be of the same age as the child in his words in order to establish contact. Why not? The Mother talks to the children in words of their age. Let the preacher be like the Mother when he stands to address his words to the little folks. Let him use short words, plain sentences, pictureful words, and objects which the children know, and thus become a child again. Let him see the big world through the eyes of the children, and he will know what stories the children like and do not like, and when he arrives in the pulpit, their eyes will be fastened on him, and they will hear him gladly because he is one of them.

So, as baby discovers America, you discover baby.

A MILLION DOLLAR CIGARET

OBJECTS: A Black Muslin Flag on Which Is Written Some of the Woes of the Cigaret Habit=

Some months ago in Jersey City, N. J., a large warehouse and its contents were destroyed by fire. This was the dreadful blaze known as the Great Triangle Fire which finally destroyed a million dollars worth of property. The deadly cigaret was believed to have been the cause of this disaster. An employee walking about the place tossed or allowed to drop from his hand a lighted cigaret.

A cigar thus dropped goes out at once; a cigaret continues to burn until it burns itself out, and so this cigaret continued to burn and ignited other material, and thus the great fire had its start, and one million dollars worth of property was thus destroyed. That was a Million Dollar Cigaret.

All cigarets are costly. They destroy things much more valuable than personal property or real estate. They destroy health, character, and the chances of good success in life. These things are more valuable than hills of gold. The cigaret is more deadly than natural death, for it produces a living death and at last flings the ruined soul on the bank of the Lost River in the Kingdom of Eternal Darkness.

Sir Christopher Furness has found that cigaret smoking among boys not only causes deterioration of physique, but "tends to develop lounging habits, with the result that the juvenile smoker's work is less conscientiously done, and he is lacking in sprightliness and alertness. Where, as is often the case," Sir Christopher adds, "the boy smokes clandestinely, habits of deceitfulness will probably be formed." Sir George William's experience as an employer has conclusively proved to him that a boy is a far from satisfactory worker if he smokes, and he says:

The effects of smoking, with its tendency to encourage drinking, are to reduce a lad's energy, to lessen his intellectual capacity, and to weaken his moral character.

The fact that every great public school prohibits smoking among its boys, and punishes offenders with a strong hand, is eloquent of the evil effect tobacco has on the young mind. The Leeds School Board some time ago enlisted the services of eminent medical authorities in its battle against the cigaret, and the Plymouth Board circularized the teachers and parents of the children on the subject. A Committee of the Liverpool School Board which investigated the matter declared that "cigaret smoking affects the system generally, and arrests physical development," and it would be possible to quote thousands of such opinions from the educational side.

It goes without saying that the doctor is the strongest enemy of the cigaret for boys. "All the evidence," says Dr. Andrew Wilson, "points to the undermining of a growing lad's physique by indulgence in tobacco," and Doctor Wilson continues:

Add to this the moral effect--that of rendering the already precocious boy still more precocious, and of turning him into an insufferable prig, and you thus condemn the habit from another point of view.

Sir Henry LittleJohn, the veteran medical officer of health for Edinburgh, has used his great influence against the boy smoker on many grounds, and there is much force in his argument that

the practise is fraught with dangers to society at large, owing to the secrecy with which the habit is carried on, the assembling at nights, the tendency to visit ice-cream shops to assuage the heat of the mouth that has been engendered by the filthy practise, and, in addition, we have ultimately that disregard of the proprieties due to the other sex which is introducing in our midst a laxity of morals, which, in the future, must bear fruit.

Magistrate Crane of New York City says:

Ninety-nine out of a hundred boys between ten and seventeen years of age, who come before me charged with crime, have their fingers disfigured by yellow cigaret stains... The poison in the cigaret seems to get into the system of the boy and destroys all moral fiber.

Tobacco interferes with the functions of the eye, of the heart, and of the kidneys. Tobacco smoking interferes with the development of the boy.

Professor McKeever says the cigaret-smoking boys of several schools, the records of which were investigated, were described by his informants by such epithets as sallow, sore-eyed, puny, squeaky-voiced, sickly, short-winded, and extremely nervous.

The greatest danger of the cigaret habit is its insidious nature. The boy does not realize the danger until it is too late to correct it. Hundreds of tombstones today bear silent testimony to this fact.

A chemist took the tobacco used in an average cigaret and soaked it in several teaspoonfuls of water and injected a portion of it under the skin of a cat. The cat almost immediately went into convulsions and died in fifteen minutes. Dogs have been killed with a single drop of nicotine.

Investigation shows that prominent business men positively refuse to engage men for responsible positions who smoke cigarets. The cigaret smoker, sooner or later, proves to be unreliable either physically, mentally, morally, or all three.

In Detroit alone, sixty-nine merchants have agreed not to employ cigaret-users. Chicago firms such as Montgomery Ward & Co., Marshall Field & Co., Morgan & Wright Tire Co., all prohibit cigaret smoking among employees, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, are both opposed to the cigaret.

The manager of one of Ohio's largest mercantile houses, when asked for a job for a boy who smoked cigarets, said:

I'm sorry, but I can't use cigaret smokers. First, they smell bad, and I don't want to put them in contact with the nice young ladies who work here or the nice ladies who trade here. Second, cigarets prevent the development of strong, clear, reliable moral character. They excite the lower passions and dull the sense of right and wrong.

Judge Ben Lindsay of Denver says:

I have been in the Juvenile Court nearly ten years, dealing with thousands of boys who have disgraced themselves and their parents, and I do not know of any one habit which is more responsible for the troubles of these boys than the vile cigaret habit.

Superintendent, Mervine of the Wells Fargo Express Company, issued a letter to all agents of the company, in which he said: