THE TOMB IN THE ROCK. 191 somebody about it) for he could not talk about it with his disciples. They could not understand it. They could not believe he would-so good and so holy a man-be put to death by wicked men ! But Moses and Elijah understood it; and when he wanted to talk about it, they were there, all ready. He knew where to find them, and when they would come. They were like the little ship that waited upon him. And when he came to die, he needed a tomb. He wanted to borrow one-not as we want ours, till the resurrection day,—but for only three days. Where will his friends find one? They have taken down his body, and are in haste to put it somewhere. Just then a rich man recollects that he has been hewing a new tomb out of a solid rock, and that it is in his garden near at hand. A new tomb, and in a solid rock! No man had ever been buried in it. Christ had never needed it before; but now, at the very moment when needed, the tomb is all ready! It is finished, and it is waiting for him! The rock was created, and kept, and got ready, for this very purpose! Like the little ship, it waited upon him! How strange it is! Christ was so poor that he had not where to lay his head, and yet you see how his servants were around him just when he needed them! It was as if he spake that they should wait on him, and they obeyed! He had his servants in the air, in the sea, in the fields, by the wayside, in the river, in the mountains, in the solitary garden, in the great city, in the grave, and everywhere. They came around him,-the lilies, the birds, the wild ass, the fish, the boat, the men, and the angels, just when he wanted them. The waters would bear him up, so that he could walk on them, to go to his friends, and out of raging storm he could call the sweet calm, and it came. It is a great thing to have a Saviour so great, that he can feed us every day of our life, clothe us all our days, teach us in our ignorance, be with us when we are sick, and get all ready for us when we die. Yet this is but a small part of what Christ can do for every little boy and every little girl. He has angels that he can send, when you die, to carry your soul to him far up in the heaven of heavens. He has a place there, a beautiful home there, for every one who loves him. The gates of heaven are his servants, and wait upon him, and open to let his friends come in when they die. He has the grave of every one prepared, where he puts the body to wait till he comes back to earth; and he has an angel whose trumpet, at the resurrection, will wake up every sleeper in the grave; and he has many angels besides, whom he will send out as the farmer sends to gather in his harvest, and who will bring his own people all to heaven. These all wait on him like the little ship. The great trees wait on him, and shelter his birds, and give shade to his flocks, and fruit to men, and timber for their houses, or for their ships, and fuel for their fires. The mighty rivers are his, and they run in the channels he has made for them, and they water all the lands where they flow. The SERVANTS OF CHRIST. 193 rocks are all his, and he uses one to make him a tomb, or others to make him a church. The silver and the gold are his, and he gives it and takes it away just as he pleases,-uses it to print his word, to send out his ministers, or to teach the little child in the Sabbath-school. The Sabbath is his servant, sent to speak in a soft, solemn voice, and call men to him. The Bible is his servant,-sent out to instruct all the world, and lead men to Christ. All the angels in heaven, and all the robes of white there, and all the crowns of life there, and all the harps of gold there, are his servants. They all wait on him. And so will the ages of eternity all pass before him, for he "holds the keys of death and of hell, and he openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." O children! He speaks to you that every little child should wait on him, and be his friend and servant. And if that little ship that waited on him was honoured, how much more will that little boy or that little girl be honoured, who obeys him and loves him! Who of you will be thus honoured, -to have him bless you now, and bless you for ever in heaven? VI. THE GREAT KING. "For I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts." A great kingdom must have a great king-God reigns over all nations— An earthly king sometimes loses a battle for want of means-God created and upholds all things-The fowls of the air and the fish of the sea fed daily-The birds-The bees-The squirrel-An old kingdom-Fall of a mountain-Three villages destroyed. CHILDREN, when we say we have stood on a rock, that is not saying whether the rock was large or small, round or square, of marble or of something else. When we say that we have admired a tree, that is not telling whether the tree was great or small, high or low, straight or crooked, ash or maple. Human language is so poor, that one word cannot describe a thing, and so we use adjectives, and use two or more words. When we speak of a king, that is not saying whether he is old or young, wise or foolish, strong or weak, honoured or despised. But when we speak of a great king, there is much meaning in our words. He need not be great in stature, or great in size. But to be a great king, 1. He must have a great kingdom. 2. He must have great power. 3. He must have great wisdom to manage his kingdom. 4. He must have what is an old kingdom. Let us see now if God has all these, so that he may well I am a great King." say, A GREAT KINGDOM. 195 1. Has God a great kingdom to reign over? Sometimes we read of a poor, ignorant African, who in his own country is called a king, though he has not a suit of clothes to wear, a decent house to live in, or a meal of food fit to be eaten. Sometimes men have the title of king when their dominion is small and poor,—a mere handful of half-starved people. But to be a great king, a man must have a large territory. It must stretch over rivers and mountains, and contain forests of wood, mines of iron, rocks and marble, clay and sand; it must have cities and villages, land for wheat and grain, and cattle and wool; it must have harbours and lakes, canals and roads. A great kingdom, too, must have a great multitude of people to cut down the forests; to dig out the ore, and make it into iron; to cut the rocks and marble into stones shaped for building; to turn the clay into brick, and the sand into glass; to till the land and make it yield food and clothing; to build the cities, and factories, and ships, and manage them all; to dig the canals, and carry things on them through the country. It must have men to sail the ships, to manage the navy, to make armies that may watch and protect all these lives and all this property. A great king, too, has colonies where a part of his subjects may live and trade. He will also have a treasury which is never exhausted. And then, as the representative of all this multitude of people and of all this property, he will have a splendid palace, and a magnificent court, and will be the centre of all honours and offices, and power and glory, |