p. 445 | Thou Shalt Not Steal by Minnie E. Kenney

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 28.

"Thou Shalt Not Steal."

By Minnie E. Kenney

THEY did not look a bit like thieves! Five bright, rosy-cheeked little girls, with their Bibles and catechisms in their hands and their missionary money safely stowed away in their pockets, to be given to their teacher as soon as the time for collection should come.

I don't think they knew they were thieves, either. They didn't stop to think about it, when they recited the commandments to their teacher as usual after the other lessons were finished.

"Thou shalt not steal," recited Nellie, glibly. "Thou shalt not—"

"Wait a minute, dear," interposed the teacher, as Alice Grant was about to repeat the next one.

"Wait a moment; I want to have a little talk with you about the eighth commandment. Jennie, can you tell me what stealing is?"

"Why, of course I can, Miss Davis. It is taking anything that don't belong to you."

"Yes, that is a very good definition, Jennie," answered her teacher.

"Girls, do you know you have all broken that commandment since you have been in the Sabbath-school room this afternoon?"

"Why, Miss Davis, what do you mean?" they all exclaimed, in astonishment. "We are not thieves," added Jennie, an indignant flush on her face, as she heard her teacher's words.

"Won't you tell us what we have taken that didn't belong to us?" asked Alice.

"What do we always do in Sabbath-school after the opening hymn?" asked Miss Davis.

"Pray," answered Alice.

"To whom does that time belong, then?" asked the teacher.

"To God," answered the girls, in bewilderment, not understanding what these questions had to do with the eighth commandment.

"Yes, that time belongs to God," answered Miss Davis. "Now, this afternoon while our superintendent was leading us in prayer, I heard two little girls carrying on a whispered conversation; another one was turning over the leaves of her library book, and two more were counting their missionary money."

Five little faces grew very red; they now began to see what Miss Davis meant.

"Now, whose time were they taking for these things?" asked their teacher.

"God's time," said Alice faintly.

"Yes, dear, these little girls were taking God's time—the time which should be spent in prayer to him—to talk about other things. Don't you think that those little girls were breaking the eighth commandment, just as surely as if they had taken money or anything else that belonged to another?"

"We never thought of that before, Miss Davis," said Jennie.

"I don't think you ever did, dear girls, for I am sure none of you would take from God what belongs to him if you thought about it. Won't you remember after this that God's time is sacred to himself, and not use it for anything else?"

"Yes, Miss Davis, we will remember," promised the girls.

Just then the superintendent's bell rang as a signal to put away books and prepare for the closing exercises, and there was no time for any more conversation on this subject; but the reverent attention with which the girls listened to the last prayer showed that their teacher's words had sunk deep into their hearts.

After this, whenever they were tempted to whisper or look around during the prayer, they remembered whose time they were taking, and tried to join in the prayer with all their heart, that they might not again be guilty of taking from God the time that belonged to him.—Mrs. Minnie E. Kenney, in Christian at Work.