The four boys were Ned, Rob, Tom, and Ben, and they were all sick with scarlet-fever. I want to tell you in what different ways they acted toward the doctor. Ned, in the first place, would have no doctor at all. His mother urged it, and his father urged it, but he would not hear of a doctor, and they were so foolish as to yield to him, until it was too late. They did call in a doctor when he was too sick to object any longer, but the doctor could do nothing for him, and so poor Ned died.
As to Rob, he let his parents call the doctor, but when the doctor came he made fun of him to his face, pushed away his hand when he felt of his pulse, and ridiculed him after he had gone. He would not take the medicine the doctor left, nor would he mind any of the doctor’s orders. He was so disobedient that the disease got the better of him, and Rob, too, passed away.
The third boy, Tom, though he let the doctor be called, and though he did take the medicine the doctor gave him, and carried out the doctor’s orders, yet had no faith at all in the doctor, and had no hope that he would ever get well. Indeed, he gave up completely, and did nothing but weep and moan all day long. He was very sick, but the doctor said that he might get well if he would only be more courageous and have more faith in the doctor and his medicine. But that faith Tom would not have, and finally he, too, died.
The fourth boy, Ben, did none of these foolish things. When the doctor came he saw that he was his friend, listened eagerly to all the doctor told him, and obeyed his every word. He believed that the doctor would cure him, and was cheerful and hopeful, and, sure enough, he got well.
I have told you the story of these four boys, not because all boys who are sick have just the same experiences, by any means, but because the story will show you some of the ways in which people are likely to reject the great Physician, Jesus. Some people will have nothing to do with him, and will not even let him come into their lives and help them. Some people, when he comes, will not obey him, nor do a thing that he says. And still others, though they obey him, do it not because they love him, or because they have any faith in him, but because their friends want them to, or because they are afraid of punishment, or because it is popular, or for some other foolish reason. While there are others who, like Ben, receive the great Physician in the right way, obey him, and love him, and trust in him; and in this class I hope will be all the children of all the world.