Great Thoughts Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. I once knew a sweet little girl called Mary. Her papa was the captain of a big ship, and sometimes the went with him to sea, and it was on one of these trips that the incident, of which I am going to tell you, happened. One day she sat on a coil of rope, watching old Jim clean the signal lamps. "What are you doing?" she asked. "I am trimming the signal lamps, miss," said old Jim. "What are they for?" asked Mary. "To keep other ships from running into us, miss; if we do not hang out our lights, we might be wrecked." Mary watched him for some time, and then she ran away and seemed to forget all about the signal lights; but she did, not, as was afterwards shown. The next day she came to watch old Jim trim the lamps, and after he had seated her on the coil of rope, he turned to do his work. Just then the wind carried away one of his cloths, and old Jim began to swear awfully. Mary slipped from her place and ran into the cabin; but she soon came back, and put a folded paper into his hand. Old Jim opened it, and there, printed in large letters — for Mary was too young to write — were these words: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." The old man looked into her face, and asked: "What is this, Miss Mary?" "It is a signal light, please. I saw that a bad ship was running against you because you did not have your signal lights hung out, so I thought you had forgotten it," said Mary. Old Jim bowed his head and wept like a little child. At last he said: "You are right, missy. I had forgotten it. My mother taught me that very commandment when I was no bigger than you; and for the future I will hang out my signal lights, for I might be quite wrecked by that bad ship, as you call these oaths." Old Jim has a large Bible now, which Mary gave him, and on the cover he has painted: "Signal lights for souls bound for heaven." (Great Thoughts.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. |
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