The Bear.
YOU have all seen pictures of bears, and I daresay many of you have seen a real live bear. Did you ever see a big white bear, a Polar Bear, they call him, because he comes from the cold countries near the North Pole, where it is all snow and ice? How cold we should be up there, but Mr. White Bear, has such a thick fur coat, he does not mind the cold a bit; he just enjoys sitting on an iceberg, waiting for a fat seal to come along. Poor seal, he feels very frightened when he sees the huge white bear, but he is caught, and eaten too, so fast that he has not much time to think about it. I think it must be very hard for the bears who are used to such a cold climate to come down to warm countries. Their fur coats must feel very hot and heavy in summer time. Did you ever notice, little children, how God provides each animal with food and clothing, according to the part of the world He means them to live in? When He put the white bear up in the cold frozen North, He dressed him in a heavy coat, quite able to keep him warm, and made him able to eat the seals, which live up there in great numbers. Now, the brown bear, whose home is in the woods, where the climate is much warmer, has quite different food, and not nearly such warm clothes. He eats roots, and berries, which grow in the woods, and he likes honey, too, and often robs the wild bees of the sweet food they have made with such care. Some friends of mine were once camping on the hills, near a large river. They had a tent, and outside the, tent was a little cooking-stove. One day when they were out, a brown bear came to see what the camp was like. Near the tent was a sack, which had bread, and pork in it. The furry visitor liked the smell of this sack, and he shook it, and ran round with it, trying to get the pork, until he upset the stove, and everything in the tent. What a mess the poor young men found their camp in when they returned. and every bit of food gone. I do not think a bear is a pleasant visitor, do you? Bears are very, very strong. They can carry heavy loads—a cow even, or a sheep. They sometimes walk on their hind legs, and men have taught them to dance, by catching them very young, but they teach them in a very cruel way, and are often unkind to them, as they lead them round the country to perform.
There is a very sad story in the Bible about bears. Many, many years ago, in God’s land of Canaan, there was a town called “Bethel.” It was built on the same spot where Jacob had his beautiful dream of a ladder going up to heaven, and the Lord standing at the top. When Jacob awoke, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, . . . this is none other but the house of God,” so he called it Bethel which means “the house of God.” But at the time I am going to tell you about, it was a very wicked city, for a golden calf had been set up there, and the people worshipped it, instead of the Lord their God, who had done so many great things for them. In the streets of Bethel were lots of little children running about and playing, as children do in the streets of our cities today. These children had no fear of God before them; they had been taught to bow down before the golden calf. All they thought of was play and fun. Now, play is a good thing in itself but when it leads children to laugh at God’s people or mock at holy things, it is very bad, and if you desire to please the Lord, you will keep away from children who do such things. Well, as these boys and girls were playing just outside the city, one day, they saw an old man, with a bald head, coming along. They knew very well who he was; it was Elisha the prophet, and he had just returned from seeing his friend and master Elijah caught up into heaven, by a whirlwind. The naughty children ran up to him, but not to welcome him; O, no; bad words came from their lips, “Go up, thou bald head. Go up, thou bald head,” they shouted in mocking tones. They meant, “You had better go up to heaven too; we don’t want you here.” Did God hear those naughty children? Yes, indeed, He did. and He punished them on the spot. Near the town was a thick wood, and in the wood lived savage bears. No doubt, they had dens there and little cubs, but when the wicked words had been shouted by the boys and girls, two bears came from their hiding place. O! how big and savage they looked; how frightened the children were; how they screamed and ran, but it was of no use; in a few moments forty-two little children had been torn by the savage beasts. What a mourning there must have been in the city! how sad the parents must have felt. Perhaps they wished now, they had taught their little ones to fear God, and have respect to His holy prophet. Children, do you do these things? do you remember that God is looking at all you do, and listening to all you say, and do you fear to displease Him? And do you pay respect to His servants, and listen to what they have to tell you? Remember that though punishment may not come to you as it did to these bad children, it will come by and bye, to those who do not repent of their sins, and seek forgiveness for them from God.
ML 10/10/1909