T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S the glass then we can see the dirt. Now today if you will promise to be real quiet and listen I will tell you a story about a most wonderful looking-glass or mirror into which some people looked a long time ago. Let us bow our heads and ask God to bless us as we listen to this beautiful story. Lesson Story.— You know we have been hearing how two men named Ne- hemiah and Ezra worked to help the .poor people in Jerusalem; how they built up the broken walls and put up gates so the city was made safe again. Upon a hill in the city of Jerusalem stood God’s house, or the temple. Ne- hemiah had done a good and great work for the people living in the city of Jeru salem, but he knew they needed some thing more than a beautiful and safe city; he knew the people needed to know God and study His word— the Bible. So he planned a time when the people would lay aside their regular work and gather together, a sort of a holiday time, like when we go to conven tions. This service began with a praise or thanksgiving service, and there were so many people there was no building large enough to hold them all, so they met out in the open air near one of the city gates. The name of the man who read the Bible was Ezra, and a large platform was built for Ezra to stand on, so the people could see him and hear him. Just think what a wonderful sight this must have been with such a great crowd of men, women and children in front of him, waiting for a message from God’s word. Wasn’t this a big class for Ezra to teach? Ezra did just what we do in our Sunday School. He prayed to God and thanked him for the Bible, and the people bowed their heads and worshipped God. Then Ezra opened the Bible and read to them, and he often stopped to explain as he went along, so the people would understand. It was just wonderful how the people listened for Ezra read a long time— from morning until noon," and the peo-
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— Devo. Com. Joy of the Lord is your strength. It is significant that this oft-quoted word of encouragement is closely connected with the exhortation to unselfish remembrance of others. They were to send portions to them for whom nothing was prepared. Christian joy is a by-product of faith and obedi ence.— Holden. Many men fail to real ize that joy is distinctly moral. It is the fruit of the spiritual life. Joy does not happen. It is a flower that springs from roots. It is the result of obeying the Word of God. The Christian life that is joyless is a discredit to God and a disgrace to itself.— Babcock. Real joy, if it be felt, must come from a higher region, for the world is shadowed by sorrow. v. 12. Mirth because they understood. While other books may amuse and in struct us in leisure hours, it is the pe culiar triumph of the Bible to create light in the midst of darkness, to direct a beam of hope to the heart which no other topic of consolation can reach, while guilt, despair and death vanish at the touch of its holy inspiration.— Hall. v. 14. Feast of the seventh month. The feast of tabernacles was a memo rial of their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, a representation of our tabernacle state in this worlfl as fol lowers of Christ, and a type of the Gospel church.— Sum. Bible. The Joy of Learning God’s Word. Neh. 8:1-12. Memory Verse.—-“ Thy word have I hid in my heart.” Psa. 119:11. Approach.—How many of you boys and girls know what a mirror or looking- glass is? Just look, every hand is up, so I do not need to tell you what a looking-glass is, do BEGINNERS I? Well, Marion, can AND PRIMARY you tell me what it Mabel L. Merrill is used for? To see yourself in. Now, James, tell me what you see. (Hold glass before one to whom you speak.) You see yourself. Yes, the looking- glass reflects or shows whatever is be fore it. Now if our faces are dirty, we can not see them, but when we look into
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