Children, what does this look like? An animal? Yes; but what is it made of? Stone; limestone. How did the limestone get into this shape? You think some one carved it? Ah, no! It was once a living creature, of just this size and shape.
How did the animal turn to stone? It took many weeks, possibly many months or years. Bit by bit the water carried away part of the shell of the animal, and left limestone in its place, until it became all limestone. We call it a fossil, and haven’t you heard men called fossils, too, when they are dull and stupid and half dead?
Well, just what happened to that animal when it became a fossil may happen to your hearts, my dear boys and girls, if you don’t look out. They may become hardened. They may become hearts of stone. Of course I don’t mean that the little red bundle of muscle that is beating away in your body will become limestone, but I mean that the part of you that loves and prays and learns about God may become as cold and dead as any stone you ever saw.
How can you help it? By using your heart in the right way. Love with all your might, pray with all your might, help and sympathize and learn all you can, and the petrifying fluid cannot get at your heart. Do you know what this petrifying liquid is called? It is called selfishness.