Begin by telling the beautiful story of the young king Josiah, of how the Bible was discovered hidden in the rubbish of the neglected temple, and of how Josiah caused the book to be honored. Go on to tell the children that often nowadays the Bible is buried, though not in quite the same kind of rubbish that buried it in the time of Josiah. You will have in the room a big box, as ugly as possible, or a torn old basket, and you will tell the children that a Bible you believe, is buried there. Will they help you to get it out?
Call up the children one by one, and let each remove one thing from the basket. The first to come out may be a base-ball bat. Yes, sometimes our play buries the Bible. Have you never been so much interested in your play, children, that you had no time to give to your Bible-reading or to study your Sunday-school lesson?
The next child brings out a pile of brightly colored picture-books. Yes, time enough to read all these, but no time to read the Bible. Is not that so, very often, children?
In the same way all sorts of hindrances to Bible-reading and studying may be brought out. There will be a school-book or a slate. There will be a pocketbook, since the love of money keeps a great many from their Bibles. There will be a pretty silk waist, a pile of Sunday newspapers, a set of tools to represent their work, a package of letters to their friends, containing also a lot of invitations to parties.
And at the bottom is found a package wrapped in coarse brown paper. This is removed, and under it is found a layer of white paper, and under that a layer of silver paper, and under that a layer of gilt paper, and then comes a beautiful copy of the Bible.
Shall we not go home, children, and dig out our Bibles, no matter what is on top of them?