t it never came. In the west
room looking out toward the sunset, the room called Memory, is the
Child-that-Was. Here sleeps the little fellow that came and stayed
just long enough to gather up all our heart's love and then he went
away. In the room toward the north, the room of Experience, is the
Child-that-Is. He is the little fellow that now plays in your home in
your Sunday School class. And in the room looking out toward the
sunrise, the room called Hope, is the Child-that-Is-to-Be.

Now, we are interested in all four of these children, but our interest
in the four is to be expressed in our care for just one, and that is
the Child-that-Is. We think tenderly of the Child-that-Never-Was. We
think sadly of the Child-that-Was. But we bring the love that we might
have given and did give, to lavish it upon the Child-that-Is. We think
hopefully of the Child-that-Is-to-Be, but we realize that all his
possibilities are locked in the Child-that-Is. And so the world's
future salvation is in our cradles, in our homes and in our nurseries
to-day. To train our Children for God is the highest of all high tasks.

And notice that this woman was to receive wages for her work. What
were her wages? I suppose the princess sent down a little coin at the
end of each week, but do you think that is all the pay that this mother
got? I feel confident that she never counted this as pay at all. But
she received her reward, she received her wages. And they were wages
that were rich in worth beyond all our fondest dreams. First, there
was given unto her the fine privilege of loving. And Paul, who knew
what was priceless, Paul, who knew what was of supreme value, said that
love was the soul's finest treasure. And he meant not the privilege of
being loved, as fine as that is, but the higher privilege of loving.
And it has been given by the grace of God to the mothers of men to be
the world's greatest lovers.

"If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

"If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

"If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!"

To her was given, in the second place, the fine reward of
self-sacrifice.