Article February 17, 1951 Issue

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

[Of Special Interest to Children]

MARY F. MOORE

John's school was not far from his home, and yet sometimes he got there late. His friend Bill lived on the way, and John was often tempted to stop and talk to him. One morning when John went puffing into school, he found that the teacher had just completed a list of children who were to visit the local post office as a special treat that afternoon. He was sorry to be left out, and when he went home told his mother about it. She lovingly assured him that he could learn to be on time.

John went to the Christian Science Sunday School. So on the next Sunday he set out, meaning to talk to his Sunday School teacher about his difficulty. But, to his dismay, when he got to Sunday School he was late again. After the singing of a hymn, the class was ready to start studying the lesson, which was on the eighth commandment. When John was asked if he knew it, he repeated it from memory (Ex. 20: 15): "Thou shalt not steal."

John was very much surprised to have his teacher tell him that he had broken it, and he immediately protested that he had not stolen anything. Then she explained that the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy says that Sunday School should begin with a call to order by the superintendent and that then all should join in singing a hymn; but because he had not come in until the hymn was half over, he had stolen several minutes of the Sunday School time.

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