REVERENCE FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD.
By M. E. OLSEN
TRUE reverence can only grow out of love. Everything in the Christian service must be an effort of love, else it will not be acceptable. Love is like the precious spices, which, according to the requirement of the law, must be offered up with each lamb. It must enter very largely into every act of real worship. Before children will love the house of God, they must be taught to love God. How may this be done?—Simply by telling them what God is. Take them out under the blue sky, call their attention to the beautiful things all around,—the floating clouds overhead, the tiny plants and flowers at their feet, the trees with their noble foliage, or, perhaps, as in the winter, laden with the beautiful snow. Show them the rainbow when there is one in view, and explain its meaning; don't forget to point out the glories of the sunset. Teach the children that God is in all these things which they enjoy so much to behold, and they can not help but grow up to love him. The idea of God will then be associated in their minds with all that is pleasant and desirable. But you can do still more. You can teach your children the story of the Gospel, how God gave his only Son to die for this world. Children understand these things much more readily than we give them credit for doing, and it is wrong for us to keep them in ignorance of the lovable character of God, and, at the same time, expect them to love him. It is a sad thing to say, and yet we fear only too true, that scarcely one child in a hundred, even in Christian families, is given a correct knowledge of the true God. Can we wonder, then, that reverence for his house of worship is such a rare thing? No doubt it is very hard for little ones to sit still during the meeting, but if the solemn character of such occasions is properly set before them, and the dignity connected with the act of worship duly impressed upon their minds, they will make the effort, providing, however, that they have first learned to love the God who is worshiped. M. E. OLSEN.