Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal. Some poor families lived near a large wood-wharf. In one of the cabins was a man who, when he was sober, took pretty good care of his family; but the public-house would get his earnings, and then they suffered. In consequence of a drunken frolic he fell sick. The cold crept into his cabin, and but one stick was left in his cellar. One night he called his eldest boy, John, to the bedside, and whispered something in his ear. "Can't do it, father," said John aloud. "Can't — why not?" asked his father, angrily. "Because I learned at Sabbath-school , Thou shalt not steal,'" answered John. "And did you not learn, 'Mind your parents,' too?" "Yes, father," answered the boy. "Well, then, mind and do what I tell you." The boy did not know how to argue with his father, for his father wanted him to go in the night and steal some sticks from the wood-wharf; so John said to his father: "I can pray to-night for some wood; it's better than stealing I know." And when he crept up into the loft where his straw bed was, he did go to God in prayer. He prayed the Lord's Prayer, which his Sabbath-school teacher taught him, only he put something in about the wood, for he knew God could give wood as well as "daily bread." The next noon, when he came home from school, what do you think he caught sight of, the first thing after turning the corner? A load of wood before the door, his door. Yes, there it was. His mother told him the overseers of the poor sent it; but he did not know who they were. He believed it was God; and so it was. Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt not steal. |
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