Part 7 (1/2)

Now, fellows, here is the whole matter in a nutsh.e.l.l: Your life machine is the most wonderful, the most mysterious, and at the same time the most ”runnable” thing that the great G.o.d has created; but to run it successfully, as G.o.d designed it to be run, you must get your instructions from Him, the Maker of it. His Book of Rules, the Bible, must be your daily guide, and through it He will speak to you in your wonderful day as you live it in His companions.h.i.+p.

Fellows, it is the Life!

_Read Psalm 119:1-11._

XVIII

FRIENDs.h.i.+P

Say, fellows, if you were blindfolded and walking a plank above Niagara Falls, humanly speaking your chances would be about as good as David's were when King Saul in a frenzy of rage and jealousy was seeking his life. David sized it up when he said: ”There is but a step between me and death.”

If ever a fellow needed a friend, David needed one at that time.

And a friend he had--a friend with a backbone, a true friend--as brave as any knight who sat at King Arthur's Table Round or followed in the train of Richard Coeur de Lion.

Young gentlemen, meet Prince Jonathan!

He never got to be a king, but he had a kingly spirit--if that means something high and n.o.ble. He never deserted a cause which had a claim upon him. He was true to Saul, his father; he fell at Gilboa fighting by his side. He was true to David, his friend, unto the point of death.

You may recall that in a former chapter I mentioned the opinion that David was the kind of a fellow any red-blooded boy would like. On that day of wonders, when in the twinkling of an eye the shepherd lad became the champion of two armies, when the musical fingers of the boy who played a harp and tended sheep did the execution which routed the enemy and laid a giant's head at the feet of the king--that day Jonathan's soul was knit to the soul of David in a lifelong friends.h.i.+p. It was the kind of friends.h.i.+p which stands the test of adversity.

It was no wonder that David could have the admiring friends.h.i.+p even of a prince on the day of his triumph and for days afterward when all people were singing his praises and he moved upon the high places of royal and popular favour. If the tide had not turned, Jonathan's friends.h.i.+p would have been only an incident upon the page of history, if it had been recorded at all. It would not have been a thing so fine, so inspiring, as to have thirty millions of Sunday-school folks discussing it to-day.

But the tide turned, and there came a day when it was expensive and hazardous to be a friend of David. Jonathan's position became both delicate and perilous. Saul his father was a despot who would take his own son's life if he sought to excuse or defend one whom the king conceived to be his enemy. Jonathan's friends.h.i.+p stood the test. His own life hung lightly in the balance, but Jonathan would rather have given his life than fail his friend. He took it in his hand that evening at the royal feast of the new moon; and he played with death as the javelin of the infuriated Saul came hurtling across the table.

Then it was that this thing called Friends.h.i.+p sprang forth in all its wonderful strength and beauty and found its place in poetry and song.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, said Jesus. Ah! there is the best friend of all--Jesus!

And what did He do? Well, He did this, which proves it:

There came a day when you and I were fugitives from the king--not a tyrant king, like Saul, but a just and holy G.o.d; not an innocent fugitive, like David, but a sinner meriting the King's wrath and curse; and One stood in the councils of Eternity--the Great White Prince--and said, ”Father, forgive him; let me take his place; let me suffer his punishment; let me bear his shame; but him forgive and restore to a place in court and to the joy of the Royal Service.”

And the King consented, and the Son came to earth and died upon the cross to satisfy the law and make it possible for you and me, fugitive sinners, to return to the King's Table--forgiven and restored!

Let's go!

_Read the twentieth chapter of 1 Samuel._

XIX

ALABASTER

Say, fellows, a bunch of college students were talking over the news that had come to the campus that morning about Bob Allman. They were not only surprised; they were mad, for ”Bob Allman had done the biggest fool thing ever committed by any decent fellow that the college had sent out,”--that was the unanimous verdict. And of all the bunch in last year's graduating cla.s.s, Bob was the last one you would have suspected of such a thing, he had so much at stake. He was the clearest-headed, the best-balanced, the finest physical specimen, the smartest chap in the lot. Bob was one of those rare fellows who could stand high in his cla.s.ses and be popular with the boys and the professors alike. He was president of his cla.s.s and captain of the 'varsity football team, and everybody was glad of it.

The amazing news had arrived, in a letter from Bob, himself, to one of the boys stating that he was that very week at Vancouver, taking s.h.i.+p for China, where he had accepted a position as school-teacher on the banks of the Yangtse; there he would preside over a room full of Chinese boys about seven hours every day, while they monotonously swayed backward and forward to the droning of their ”study voices” in the characteristic Chinese fas.h.i.+on.

Bob's friend showed the letter. He had no more sympathy for Bob's reasons than the bunch had; it was ”simply a horrible mess--an outrageous slaughter of talent.” That was what they decided. Bob's letter had said: