The rocky island, and other similitudesWilberforce, Samuel
Religion
The rocky island, and other similitudes
Wilberforce, Samuel
Allegories; Children's stories, English; Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Short stories
F. Who came to Zart's rescue when he prayed?
C. The gracious Lord who had at first received him into His Church by
baptism.
F. Why was he still sad and ashamed after he was brought back?
C. Because he had wandered.
F. Did he then doubt whether he was forgiven?
C. No: but he "remembered and was confounded, and never opened his mouth
any more, when the Lord was pacified toward him for all his iniquity."
F. What was the end of Kuhn, or the "bold?"
C. We know not; but they who "draw back unto perdition" are punished
above all others.
F. What are we to learn from the whole?
C. The blessedness of being taken into the Church in our infancy; and
our need of prayer and watching, lest we turn it into a curse.
The King and his Servants.
A great king once called his servants to him, and said to them,--"You
have all often professed to love me, and to wish to serve me; and I have
never yet made trial of you. But now I am about to try you all, that it
may be known who does in truth desire to serve me, and who is a servant
only in name. To morrow your trial will begin; so meet me here in the
morning, and be ready to set out upon a journey on which I shall send
you."
When the king had so spoken, he left them; and there was a great deal of
bustle and talking amongst these servants. Not that they were all alike.
Some were very busy, and said a great deal of the services they should
render; and that they hoped it would be some really hard trial on which
the king would set them. Others were quiet and thoughtful, saying little
or nothing, but, as it seemed, thinking silently of the words the king
had spoken, as if they feared lest they should fail in their trial. For
they loved that king greatly; he had been as a father to them all. Once
they had been slaves, and cruelly treated by a wicked tyrant who had
taken them prisoners, and cast some of them into dungeons, and made
others work in dark mines, and dealt evil with them all. But the king
had triumphed over this their enemy, and rescued them from his hands. His
own son had sought them in the dungeons and dark pits into which they had
been cast, and had brought them out; and now he had given them places in
his service, and fed them from his own kingly table; and he promised to
such as were faithful, that he would raise them yet higher; that he would
even set them upon thrones, and put crowns upon their heads; and that
they should remain always in his presence, and rule and dwell with him.
Now, when the time of their trial was come, these faithful servants were
grave and thoughtful, fearing lest they should fail, and be led to forget
him their kind and gracious king. But one thought held them up. He had
said unto them all, "As your day, so shall your strength be." They knew,
therefore, that he would put on them no task beyond their strength. They
remembered his kindness and his love in taking them out of the dungeons
of the enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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