Sylvanus Stall

Suggestion:—Objects used: A magnet, a piece of paper and an ordinary sewing needle. In the illustration lay the needle flat against the paper directly under the magnet. The ordinary magnet, purchased for a few cents in a toy store, will answer the purpose.

When you are older and can make a careful study of the Book of Daniel, which is in the Old Testament, and then read the history of the world in the light of the teachings of that Book, you will see how God used the five great empires of the earth to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah, and how since the time of Christ He has used the other nations to prepare the world for the full acceptance of the truth and the final triumph of righteousness.

But God not only governs in the affairs of nations, He also governs and directs in the life of each individual. He not only gives us being and preserves our lives and health, but He has redeemed us from sin and death by the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ; and if we are willing, He will guide us in all the affairs of life. Nothing is too minute nor too insignificant to receive His thought and attention, and not even the sorrow of a child over a broken toy escapes His notice or fails to touch His loving heart.

But many people are not able to understand, and seem also unwilling to accept anything that they cannot see, or comprehend with one of their five senses. I have therefore brought this magnet, this piece of paper, and this needle, such as women use when they sew, in order to show you how God can guide us by His unseen hand.

When I lift this needle with my fingers and then let go of it you will notice how it drops immediately to the floor. Now, when I lift this magnet in the same way, and then let go of it, it will also drop in the same manner. But now I am going to hold this magnet up, and bring the needle close to the magnet. Now when I let loose of the needle with my fingers you see how it is held by the magnet. The gravity, or, as we would say, the weight of the needle, which would cause it to fall to the floor, is overcome by some greater or stronger power which is in the magnet. Now, you cannot perceive that power with any of your senses; you can neither hear it, smell it, taste it nor feel it. You can see the effect of that power, but the power itself you cannot see. In like manner, also, there are powers and influences all about us which we cannot perceive with any of our senses, but which are constantly exercising their influence upon us and upon things about us.

But now, by the use of this paper, I desire to show you something additional. I am going to place the magnet above the paper, and the needle below the paper, and show you that even through the paper this influence or power which holds the needle exerts itself. You will see now that when I lay the needle lengthwise against the paper, with the magnet upon the opposite side, that the needle is held up against this paper and does not fall, as it would if the magnet were removed. You will notice also that, as I move this magnet from place to place, the needle on the lower side of the paper follows the magnet. In this simple little experiment you are able to see the magnet, but suppose for a moment that this paper were increased in size until it was as large as the ceiling of this entire room. You will understand that then the magnet and any person moving the magnet might be entirely out of sight, and as the magnet would be moved from place to place on the upper side of the paper, entirely out of view, the needle on the lower side, which could be easily seen, would move from place to place, following the magnet.

This little experiment illustrates to us not how God guides us, but it will show us that there are powers unknown and unseen by us which can hold and guide even insensible metal. How much more easily, then, can God sustain and guide our thoughts, our purposes, our steps and our lives.

We are free moral agents. God has left us free to resist His power and His grace, and to live in defiance of all that He has commanded us, and of all that He desires us to do. But if we are willing to be led by His Spirit, and to walk in His way, God is willing to guide us, if we will come to Him and ask Him for the Holy Spirit to lead us in the way in which He would have us to walk.

There are many who do resist God's will and purpose, and live in open defiance of all His teachings, and of all that God would have them to do. I take it for granted, however, that there are no such people here, but that you all desire to live in such a way as to secure your greatest happiness and your greatest good upon this earth, and your eternal happiness and blessedness in the world to come.

In closing this little sermon, I therefore desire to impress upon your minds the fact that you and I are without experience in many of the most trying and most important events which come to us in life. We are constantly liable to be mistaken. We cannot see ahead of us, and do not always know what is for our own good. God knows all things, the future as well as the past. He cannot be mistaken and must therefore know beyond the possibility of error what will be for our good. God not only knows what will be for our good but He desires our good, therefore we should let Him guide us.

Now, the question might arise in your minds, how does God guide us? He guides us by the teachings of His Word. He has told us in the Bible how we ought to live, what is for our present and eternal good. If we desire financial prosperity, or physical blessings, or mental quickness, or spiritual peace, we will find in the teachings of God's Word how to obtain them.

God also guides us by the exercise of our consciences, and therefore it is always important that you and I should do what conscience tells us to be right. First of all we should study God's Word, in order that we may have an enlightened conscience, and then we should always follow conscience.

God also guides us by the Holy Spirit, and it is our duty to come to Him daily and ask Him for the presence and power of the Holy Ghost to guide us through each day, and to bring us at last to Heaven above.

Now, I trust you will all be able to enter heartily into the prayer which we are going to sing, for when we sing thoughtfully we will find that many hymns contain petitions as well as praise, and this is one of the kind which partakes largely of the nature of petition. Let us all sing the hymn,