April, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
145
Junior KING’S BUSINESS B y M a r t h a S. H o o k e r
A HAWKMOTH’S PARABLE B y E dith G oreham C larke
M y friend , the Hawkmoth, has asked me to tell you her story. And here it is, just as she told it to me. “ Once upon a time, I used to live, like other creatures, on the earth—'and how I did eat I I don’t believe I ever did any thing but crawl about and eat, eat, eat, all the day long! But that was long ago, and I have nearly forgotten that time of 'my life. It was in my earliest childhood. I was a larva then, and I looked quite dif ferent from the way I do now. I was an ugly, soft, little worm in those days. But day by day, I grew bigger and stouter as I crawled on the leaves of the trees and ate them up, so that nothing but the ribs of the leaves were left. A t last a day came when I had to leave the old life, and I became a pupa. Per haps you would have thought I had died. I was coated over with a kind of varnish, so that I was hard and smooth and could not move at all. I neither ate nor drank, but hung dangling by a little thin thread under a branch. It was the most restful time o f my life. I merely hung in my pupa case and dreamed. But one evening something wonderful happened. What do you think it was? Why, my pupa case burst open, and I found that I had wings! I sat quite still for a little while, trying to collect myself. And then—oh, joy o f joys—I stretched my wings and flew into the moonlight! What a beautiful starry night it was! And what a marvelous thing it was to have wings! No more crawling on the dusty leaves for me! I do not care much about food now. I am a noble being who soars above the wretched strife for food, and consecrates her life to something higher.” The Ha.wkmoth beat her soft, dark wings in the_ air and vanished among the hazel trees in the garden. But what a wonderful message she had given m e! My thoughts flew back to the dreadful day when the Son o f God died upon the cross. How His enemies rejoiced 1 They thought they had killed Him. Even His friends thought they would never see Him again. But on the third day, He came out of the grave and showed Himself to His friends —and, lo, He was changed! He had left the earth body and had put on the heavenly body. After showing Himself alive to His friends, He rose up into the air and went back to His Father in heaven. But why did the Lord Jesus die? Ah, He died in order to save you and me, that we, too, might rise one day from the dead and have a beautiful new body like His. The Son of God was crucified for our sins—as our substitute. He hung on the cruel cross, He died, He was buried; but, thank God, He rose again! Death could not keep the Lord Jesus. This world was under the power o f a great and cruel enemy called Satan, and he kept all the people in bondage because
your sin was placed on the dear Son of God. Another little girl was looking at a pic ture o f the Lord Jesus that showed Him as He hung on the cross. She asked what the picture meant, and her mother ex plained that at Calvary, Jesus bore the terrible burden of our sins, and died for us. Turning to her father, the little one asked: “Was it for you. Daddy?” “Yes, darling,” was his answer. “Mummy, was it for you?” “Yes, my child.” “ Oh, Mummy, was it for me?” “Yes, darling, for you, too.” Then the dear little child knelt down and said: “Mummy, I would like to thank the Lord Jesus.” And she thanked Him in her beautiful way: “I do thank You, dear Lord Jesus, that You were punished instead of me;” Have you thanked Him, boys and girls? In one o f the wars in Italy, by the law o f conscription, a young man was called to leave his comfortable home and his dear father and mother in order to go to fight for his country. The father tried to get some one to take his son’s place, so that the son could stay at home. He even offered the equivalent o f about four hundred dol lars, to any one who would go to war in his son’s place, but no one was willing. At last, the sad day came when the young man had to leave his home. He set off with his knapsack, his heart heavy with grief as he said good-by to his parents. Now this young man had a friend who loved him and his old parents very dearly. This friend was also his cousin. The cousin followed him to the barrack room, and then took his hand and said, “ Cesare, give me thy uniform. It will fit me as well as it doth thee. I will go to the battle field in thy stead. I am an orphan; thou art not. If I should die, only remember that I loved thee.” The conscripted man at first refused the generous offer of his cousin. But his cousin persisted, and at last persuaded Cesare to accept this proof of his friend ship and love. So together, they went to the war office and made the exchange. Cesare undressed, and his cousin Carlo put on the military uniform. Cesare’s father was overjoyed and offered the young substitute a large sum o f money. But he refused it, saying: “ It is love, not money, which leads me to take his place.” Carlo went to the wars; he fought; and he died. Cesare had this monument placed to his friend’s memory: A REDEEMED CONSCRIPT, CESARE MANITO , TO HIS VOLUNTARY SUBSTITUTE, CARLO DONALDI. This is but a mere picture o f a bit o f . what the Lord Jesus did for us. Have you remembered Him in your heart ■ and thanked the Saviour for dying in your stead ?
of sin. But in order to save us from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ bore the punishment o f our sin. He bore the sinner’s judg ment, took the sinner’s place, This He did because He loved us so. We read in Romans S:8 : “ God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sin ners, Christ died for us.” Can you say: “He died for me” ? Let me tell you how a little girl in her simple way showed that she understood this wonderful truth. The child’s mother was busy at the writing table with an after noon cup o f tea near her. When the little child came running into the room, the mother did not notice what she was doing. The mother was just about to tell her to run away, when the little voice called ou t: “Mother, see what I have done. I have put the cup in the place o f the saucer. Is not that what you mean by that long word ‘substitution’ ? I have put the cup where the saucer was, and the saucer is now where the cup was.” The mother put aside her writing at once, and, taking the child on her knee, she said: “ Such a long word, darling! What does it mean ?” “Why, Mother, don’t you remember? It means what the Lord Jesus did. He changed places with me.” Dear boys and girls, that is just what that long word does mean. My sin and
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