I want to illustrate this by a few things which I have here. The first is this magnet. And here are some small nails. These tiny nails represent girls and boys of about eleven or twelve years of age. I apply the magnet to these nails and I lift up--can you see me--twenty-five or thirty nails. You see it is a great deal easier to respond to the drawing power of good, to answer the great "Come," in girlhood and boyhood. Now here are some nails that are a little larger. I can lift up only five or six of these larger nails. They represent young people of eighteen or nineteen. As one gets older he does not hear as readily, at least he does not answer, Christ's blessed "Come." Next we have some nails still larger. The magnet will lift up only one or two of these. They stand for men and women in mature life. Oh, if one has not responded to Christ's call in childhood or youth, it becomes increasingly difficult as the years pass. How seldom, how very seldom, does an aged one answer the divine call and give his heart to the Lord! Here is a very large nail, and it is rusty. Indeed it is literally coated with rust. This represents the life that is deep in sin. For long years this life has been persisting in his evil ways. As the magnet must be very strong to penetrate the rust and grip the nail, so Christ's call must be strong and loving to reach the sinful soul. Christ can save "from the uttermost," but how much better it is to say in early youth, "I hear thy voice, my Lord. Gladly I come." MEMORY VERSE, _Matthew_ 11: 28 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." MEMORY HYMN [462] _"In heavenly rest abiding."_ LOVE AND LOYALTY Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a man who had a wife and two sons. There was a famine in the land where he lived, so he said to his wife and sons, "We will journey down to another country where the crops have not failed. There shall we find plenty to eat, and there will we make our home." So the family moved to the strange land where they prospered and were happy. In time the boys grew to young manhood and married young women of the new land where they dwelt. Then sorrow entered their homes, as sorrow comes sooner or later to every home. The father and the two sons died, and the mother and her two daughters-in-law were left alone. The mother, whose name was Naomi, said, "I am going back to the land where I lived in former days, back to the people of my girlhood." The young women said, "We shall go with you also." "No," replied Naomi, "you must not do that. Go back to your homes, there you shall be cared for, and may the Lord deal gently with you." The names of these two daughters-in-law were Ruth and Orpah. It was Ruth who then spoke up and said in words that are not surpassed in all the English language: