Part 5. Snakes.
I DARESAY you are all saying to yourselves, “I just hate snakes.” Almost everybody dislikes snakes, and is afraid of them, too, even though the little green snakes we have in America would never hurt anybody; and if you would look at them closely you would find that they are very beautiful. But there is one snake that you should all shun—the old serpent, the devil. Do you remember how God made a very beautiful garden where a man and his wife were put to live? They were perfectly happy, and never felt the least bit sick or cross, till something happened. One day the devil got inside the body of a snake, and persuaded the woman to eat some fruit, which God had told her not to eat. Of course, God had to punish her for her disobedience. He turned her and her husband out of the pretty garden, and they had to work hard and suffer pain. God punished the snake too, by making him crawl along in the dust, the way he does.
There are some very dangerous snakes that live in the world, too. There are great big boa constrictors, who can eat up whole cows; one of them once ate his brother, wasn’t that terrible? They lived together in a cage, and one day they had a great quarrel over their food. Instead of sharing it like good snakes, they both tried to eat it all. At last the strongest won the battle and ate the food, but even then the other snake would not let go, so his naughty, unkind brother ate him up, too! He was punished though, for his greediness, for he died himself soon afterwards. Then there are the cobras, who are very dangerous, but very beautiful, too, with their shining bodies and brightly colored heads. These kind of snakes come from hot countries like India, which we visited last week. There are a great many cobras that live in Ceylon, a beautiful island near to India. That other serpent I was telling you about the devil—has a great deal of power in Ceylon. So though the island is so pretty, a great many of the people are very unhappy. There is just one way to be really happy, no matter where you live. I expect most of you know that way:
“If I come to Jesus, happy shall I be,
He is gently calling, little ones like me.
If I come to Jesus, He will make me glad,
He will give me pleasure when my heart is sad.”
All the people who live in Ceylon, worship a man called Buddha, who lived about 400 years before the Lord Jesus was born. He was quite a good man, but he could not teach them about God, and now they still go on worshiping his images, though he has been dead for 2,300 years.
A long time ago Ceylon was conquered by some people called the Singhalese. They are all rather grand and very pretty, but they are very lazy too. Even the little children don’t care for games; they would rather sit still and do nothing. The way they are dressed, they could not very well play “tag,” or “hide and seek.” All the bigger children wear pieces of gay cloth tied tightly round their waists, just like long skirts. Tiny Singhalese boys don’t wear any clothes at all; they only have a bit of string tied round one arm to keep bad spirits away. Once a white man said to a Singhalese father, “How strong and well your little boy looks,” but the father was very much frightened, and said quickly, “O, no, my child is not at all well.” He was afraid that if the unkind spirits heard what the white man said, they would hurt his little boy, and make him really ill. No wonder these people are not happy. We are not happy when we are frightened, and they are always frightened. You will be glad to hear there are a great many missionary schools in Ceylon, where numbers of these little children learn to trust the dear Saviour, who loves them so much, and then they know He is always watching over them. The priests of Buddha are very angry about these schools. Once they set one on fire and burnt it all up, and often they stop the little children on their way to school, and won’t let them go!
There is another kind, of people in Ceylon, called Tamils. Many of them are coolies—workmen, you know—and they work among the tea plants. Next time you get a tea leaf in your cup, remember that perhaps it was picked in Ceylon by a Tamil coolie. And perhaps he was listening to the story of Jesus at the same time. Missionaries often go amongst the tea plants and talk to the coolies about the great God who loves them, and the Saviour who died for them on the cross. Sometimes they can’t believe it at first. “No, no,” they say; “we are only poor coolies. The great God does not care about us. It is a wonderful story, but it cannot be true.” And the patient missionaries have to explain over and over again that the wonderful story is quite true, and that God let His own Son die for the world, so that when the Lord Jesus had been punished for our sins, God could forgive us, and have us live with Him in heaven. When they do really believe it, they are so glad! and they thank God for His gift, just as we should thank anyone who gives us a beautiful present.
O! what a different island Ceylon would be, if all the people gave up Buddha, and came to the Lord Jesus! Buddha is dead, but Jesus is alive. Buddha can do nothing for them, but Jesus can save them and help them. Buddha’s religion makes them afraid to die, but if they loved Jesus they wouldn’t be afraid. They would like to go and live with Him in His home “above the bright, blue sky.” Many of them do love Him. Will you not pray that they all may hear that good news?
ML 06/04/1916