Favell Lee Mortimer

“ But God chose that his Son should be a little baby at first—because everybody is a little baby at first.
God sent his Son to be the baby of a poor woman. This woman’s name was Mary. Mary had no little children. She was a good woman and loved God. God’s Holy Spirit was in her, and made her meek and gentle.
One day an angel came to her. When Mary saw the bright angel, she was frightened: but the angel said, “Fear not, Mary; God loves you. He will send you a baby, that shall be the Son of God. You shall call his name Jesus. He will come to save people from Satan.” ”

“ The moon does not shine as brightly as the sun, for God lets it be dark at night, that we may rest and sleep soundly.
Who could count the stars?—No one but God. He knows their names and their number too. When we look at the moon and stars, let us think, How great God is! Yet he cares for the little birds, and loves little children. ”

“ That little dog will die some day. Its body will be thrown away. The dog will be quite gone when its body is dead. But when your body dies, your soul will be alive, and you will not be quite gone.
Where would you be put if you were dead?—Your body would be put in a hole in the ground, but your soul would not be in the hole. Even a baby has a soul, or spirit.
One day as I was walking in the streets, I saw a man carrying a box. Some people were walking behind, crying. There was a dead baby in the box. Was the soul of the baby in the box?—No; its soul was gone up to God. ”

“ No one knows but God. There will be many wicked people in the world then, and some good people. An angel will blow a great trumpet, and Jesus will say to the people who are dead, Come out of your graves.
The bodies of all the dead people will come out of their graves. Those who love Christ will be like the angels, and will fly up into the air. If you are alive when Jesus comes, he will catch you up in the air to meet him.
As soon as you see Jesus you will be like him, all shining and glorious. Jesus will be king over the whole world, and make all people happy. ”

“ The angels love us very much. They wish us to grow good, and to come to live with them in heaven. When a child is sorry for its naughtiness, and prays to God to forgive it, the angels are very much pleased.
When a little child who loves God falls sick, and is going to die, God says to the angels, “Go and fetch that little child’s soul up to heaven.” Then the angels fly down, the little darling shuts its eyes, it lays its head on its mothers bosom, its breath stops;—the child is dead. Where is its soul? The angels are carrying it up to heaven. ”

“ Most of the people who wished to kill Jesus, lived in a great town called Jerusalem.
Jesus used to go to Jerusalem very often, and he used to preach there.
Why did some people hate Jesus?—Because he told them of their wickedness.
He used to say to them, You do not love God, who is my Father, but you are proud and vain. You wish to kill me. You tell lies. You are unkind to poor people. You pretend to love God, but while you are saying your prayers, you are thinking how good you are. Your hearts are full of wickedness. ”

“ I cannot tell you how very bad Satan is. He is very cruel, for he likes to give pain. He is a liar and teaches people to tell lies. He is proud, and wishes people to mind him more than God. He is envious, and cannot bear to see people happy.
The devil hopes very much that you will come and live with him when you die. He knows that if you are bad like him, you will live with him. So he tries to make you like himself. When you are in a passion, you are like the devil. ”

“ Jesus knew everything that would happen, and he knew that he must soon die.
He used to tell his secrets to his disciples; so he took them into a place by themselves, and said, I soon shall leave you: the wicked people will take me, and bind me with ropes, and beat me, and laugh at me, and nail me on a cross; but I shall soon be alive again.
The disciples could not bear to hear Jesus talk of dying, for they loved him very much. They all looked very sad, and Peter said, You shall not die; but Jesus said, I must die to save men, and to please my Father. ”

“ The birds cry to God, and he hears them, and lets them find food. Now God loves us much better than he loves the little birds, because we have souls; so he will certainly hear us when we pray to him.
If your mother had no bread in her cottage, and if she could get no money to buy some, yet God would hear her, if she loved him. He would not let her starve. Will you not ask God for bread every day, and say, Give me this day my daily bread?
We ought to thank God for the food we eat: before we eat breakfast, or dinner, or supper, we should say, I thank thee, O Lord, for this nice food. ”

“ Adam and Eve knew that they must die at last. God gave them some little children; and Adam and Eve knew that their children must die too. God had told them that their bodies were made of dust, and that they must turn to dust again. ”

“ Would Jesus have done right had he thrown himself down? No: Jesus knew that his Father would be displeased if he threw himself down; and Jesus always did the things that pleased his Father.
Then Satan took him to the top of a very high hill. He showed him the most beautiful things in the world, gardens and houses, ships and carriages, and fine clothes and feasts. He said, Look at these fine things. I will give them all to you. You shall have all the world for your own; only kneel down and call me God. ”

“ Then you will love Jesus, and hate to do wickedly.
This is what God will do to those who do not love him—God will bind them in chains, and put them in a lake of fire. There they will gnash their teeth, and weep and wail forever.
God will put Satan in the same place, and all the devils. Satan is the father of the wicked, and he and his children shall be tormented forever. They shall not have one drop of water to cool their burning tongues. Many people in hell will say, How I wish I had listened to the words of my teachers! ”

“ Satan is much stronger than you are; but God is stronger than all. If anybody were to come to hurt you when you were alone, you would be frightened; but if you saw your father coming you would run to him, and you would not be frightened any more. Now God is our father; he can keep Satan from hurting you. Pray to him, and say, “O dear father, keep me from being wicked like the devil, and from going to hell.” ”

“ Pilate saw the soldiers tormenting him, and he brought Jesus into the street, where the wicked people were, and he showed Jesus to them, and said, Look at your king.
Pilate hoped they would be sorry to see him so ill-used; blood upon his forehead from the thorns, and his back scourged, and dressed in fine clothes to mock him: but the wicked people were cruel like tigers. ”

“ The wicked people soon got up; God let them get up; but Jesus said to them, If you want to have me, you must let my disciples go away.
It was kind of Jesus to think of them, and they were frightened and glad to get away; they did not wish to stay to die with Jesus.
But Peter took a sword and cut off one of the wicked men’s ears. Peter wished to fight; but Jesus said, Put up your sword. If I were to pray now to my Father, he would send thousands of angels to help me. Then Jesus touched the man’s ear, and made it well.
Why did not Jesus pray to God to send the angels? ”

“ In the garden there was a high place called a rock, and a hole in the rock, like a hole in a wall; and they walked into this large dark hole, and they laid Jesus down quite alone. Now he was at rest; he felt no pain, no sorrow: the wicked people were not near; and there lay the Lord in his quiet grave. The men took a very large stone and stopped up the hole, so that nobody could get in. No beast, no bird, could touch the Lord Jesus. There were trees and flowers near him in this sweet garden, and there were angels there watching over him, though no one could see them. ”

“ Herod knew that this babe was in Bethlehem; but there were many babes in Bethlehem, and Herod did not know which was the babe that was called a king.
Some people knew which it was; but they loved Jesus, and they would not tell Herod. A very wicked thought came into Herod’s mind. He thought, I will kill all the babes in Bethlehem. Do you think God would let Herod kill his Son? No. God knew what Herod meant to do. God sent one of his bright angels to speak to Joseph when he was asleep.
The angel said, A wicked king wants to kill the baby. Get up, Joseph; take Mary and the baby a great way off. ”

“ You know, my little children, we are wicked, and God can make us good with his Holy Spirit. If God puts his Holy Spirit in us, we shall not go to hell, and live with Satan.
I hope you will ask God to give you his Holy [44] Spirit. Say to God, O give me thy Holy Spirit, to make me good!
Adam had a great many children and grandchildren, and they had more children; at last the world was full of people—more people than you could count.
After Adam and Eve had been dead a long while, and when the world was full of people, God said to his Son, Now, my beloved Son, go down into the world. ”

“ Adam and Eve minded Satan, and disobeyed God; but Jesus did all his Father had told him. Adam was disobedient, Jesus was obedient.
Then Satan went away, and angels came from heaven and fed Jesus.
Satan goes about, trying to make children naughty. A lion could only eat your body, but Satan wants to have your soul and body in hell. Satan hates you. He is your enemy. But God is stronger than Satan. Say to God, Keep me from minding Satan, and God will keep you. ”

“ So, when my body dies, shall angels guide
My happy soul to my dear Father’s side:
To meet me at the gate shall angels throng,
With joy shall tune their harps and raise their song.
LESSON LI.
JOHN.
Rev. i. 9-19; iv. 1-5; xxii. Almost all the twelve disciples were killed by wicked men at last. When Peter was old, some wicked men crucified him, because he loved Jesus. Now he is in heaven with Jesus, clothed in a white robe, and all his tears wiped away. His dear Lord Jesus is always near him, and this makes him happy.
John lived till he was very, very old, indeed. ”

“ Remember Satan goes about as a cunning serpent, trying to make you disobey God; but Christ will keep you from wickedness, if you pray to him.
One day God will burn up this world we live in. It is dreadful to see a house on fire. Did you ever see one? But how dreadful it will be to see this great world and all the houses and trees burning! The noise will be terrible: the heat will be very great. The wicked will not be able to get away. They will be cast into the lake of fire. The world will not burn forever; God will make another world, much better than this. ”

“ God has covered your bones with flesh. Your flesh is soft and warm. In your flesh there is blood. God has put skin outside, and it covers your flesh and blood like a coat. Now all these things, the bones, and flesh, and blood, and skin, are called your body. ”

“ When you think yourself good, you are proud like the devil.
Can God keep you from minding the devil? Yes; he can: for God is a great deal stronger than Satan. Besides this, God is always near you, for God is everywhere. Now Satan cannot be everywhere at the same time. It is true that Satan has a great many angels who go where he tells them; and that Satan and his angels come near you very often. But God is always with you; he is before you and behind you, and on every side of you; he is about your bed when you sleep, and about your path when you walk. Therefore you need not be afraid of Satan ”

“ But only God and the angels saw its beauty.
Afterward God placed the sun in the sky, and bade it shine all day, and go from one end of the world to the other. God made the moon to shine at night, and he covered the sky with stars.
You never saw anything so bright as the sun. It is very large indeed, only it looks small, because it is a great way off. It cannot fall, for God holds it up. God makes it move across the sky. ”

“ Then Jesus told Peter what would happen to him when he was old. Jesus said to Peter, When you were young, you walked about where you liked; but when you are old some men will take you, and stretch out your hands, and carry you where you do not like to go. ”

“ No one can make things by speaking but God: God made things of nothing. He only spoke, and the light came.
Then God made the air. You cannot see the air, but you can feel it. The air is everywhere. You can sometimes hear the noise it makes, for you hear the wind blow, and the wind is air. ”

“ There is no night in heaven, for the angels are never tired of singing, and they never wish to sleep. They are never sick, and they will never die.
They never weep; there are no tears upon their cheeks, but sweet smiles, for angels are always happy.
If the angels were naughty, they would be unhappy. Naughtiness always makes people unhappy. The angels are quite good. They love God very much, and mind all he says. ”

“ All people who love Jesus wish him to come again in the clouds.
Do you wish to see Jesus, my little children?
Then you may answer, Even so; come, Lord Jesus.
I hope that when you die your spirit will go to Jesus, and that when Jesus comes again, he will bring you with him.
John wrote down in a book the things he had seen in heaven. All that John wrote is in the Bible. At last John died, and his soul went to God. He [145] is with Jesus now in heaven. He is now playing on a golden harp, and singing with the angels. But when Jesus comes again in the clouds, John will come with him. ”

“ God does everything. God gave you this little body, and he makes it live, and move, and breathe. There are bones in your body. God has made them strong and hard. There are some bones for your arms, and some bones for your legs. There is a bone for your back, and more bones for you sides. ”