THE ALL-SEEING EYE OF GOD.
Suggestion:—Object: A small aquarium with a few small fishes.
Fishes in Aquarium.
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I have here an aquarium with a few very pretty goldfishes in it. As they swim from side to side they look very beautiful. When they see me coming nearer to the aquarium, or moving my hand upon this side or the other, they dart very quickly to the opposite side of the aquarium. They try to get out of sight, but it makes no difference whether they are upon this side or upon the other side of the aquarium, I can see them just as well. I can look right through the aquarium; I can see through the glass, and I can see through the water. And wherever the fishes are in this aquarium, I can see them. It is impossible for them to hide away, or to get out of my sight.
Now, the Bible tells us that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." (Prov. xv: 3.) We are very clearly taught in the Bible, that it makes no difference where we are, God can see us just as well in one place as in another. He can see us in the night just as well as in the daytime, for "the darkness and the light are alike unto Him." David said, "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalm cxxi: 4.) So it makes no difference whether you are in the house or out of doors, whether it is day or whether it is night, God can see right through the house, just as you and I can look through this aquarium and through the water, so God can see right through the thick walls of a house, or even through a great mountain. If you were in the valley beyond the mountain, God could see right through the mountain; that would make no difference. He can even see way through the earth, from this side through to China. It makes no difference to God, for He can see just as well through material substances, through which you and I cannot look, as we can see through the air; indeed much better, for distance limits the possibility of our seeing distinctly and clearly, while God's power to see is not limited or circumscribed.
"There is One Direction That You Have not Looked."
Once there was a very excellent, good woman, who had a very nice and conscientious little boy, but the mother was poor and had to go out from day to day to earn her living. Each night when she returned home the little boy was very lonely, and would watch very patiently for his mother, and when he saw her coming, he would always run to the door to meet her, and throw his arms about her neck. But one evening when she returned, she noticed that little Willie was not at the door to meet her. She could not understand why, when she came into the house he seemed to be afraid of her. He tried to avoid her. After a time the mother called Willie to her and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him very tenderly. This was too much for the little boy's heart. He looked up into his mother's face, and said, "Mamma, can God see through a crack in the door?" His mother said, "Yes, God can see everywhere." He said, "Mamma, can God see in the cupboard if it is dark in the cupboard?" "Yes, Willie, God can see in the dark as well as in the light." Willie looked up into his mother's face and said, "Then I might as well tell you. To-day I was very hungry, and although you told me that I should not take the cake which you had put in the closet, yet I went to the closet, and when I had closed the door, and it was all dark, I felt around till I got a piece of the cake, and I ate it. I did not know that God could see in the dark. I am very sorry that I have been so wicked and so naughty." And so little Willie threw his arms around his mamma's neck and laid his head upon her shoulder and wept very bitterly.
Eye in the Pulpit.
Once a man went to steal corn out of his neighbor's field. He took his little boy with him to hold the bag open, while he should pull the corn and put it in the bag. After they had reached the cornfield the father looked this way and that way, and looked about him in every direction, and when he had given the little boy the bag to hold open, the little boy looked at his father and said, "Father, there is one direction that you have not looked yet." The father was quite frightened and supposed that his son had seen some one coming in some direction. But the son said, "You have not looked up. There is some one in that direction I am sure who sees us." The father was so much impressed that he turned away from his sinful purpose, and returned home, never again to steal from anyone.
Many years ago, among some of the denominations when they built a church, they used to build the pulpit very high. It was built almost as high as the gallery. And when the people sat in the pews and desired to see the minister, they had to bend their heads back, and look up very high toward the pulpit. At Reading, Pennsylvania, there is still one of these old pulpits which was formerly in use. On the under side of the shelf upon which the Bible rested in that pulpit, there was painted a large eye. And when the people would look up from the pews to see the minister, or towards the Bible, underneath this lid upon which the Bible rested they would always see this large eye. This eye would seem to look right down upon each one individually, and thus they would constantly be reminded of the text, "Thou God seest me," and the text which I repeated at the opening of this sermon, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." And so Sunday after Sunday, and year after year, from childhood to manhood, this object sermon was constantly being preached to them.
Whenever Satan tempts you to do wrong, remember that you cannot escape from the eyes of One who sees you constantly, and although no human being might know of your wickedness, yet God sees you, and God knows it all, for "His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men." (Psalm xi: 4.)
Questions.—Can the fish in the aquarium hide from our sight? How are we like the fish in the aquarium? What does the Bible say about the eyes of the Lord? Can darkness hide us from God's sight? Can He see through the earth? Tell about the little boy who ate the cake in the dark. Tell about the little boy whose father wanted to steal corn. Why was a large eye painted on the pulpit in the church? When we are tempted by Satan, what should we remember?