SUNDAY COLUMN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 248, 27 July 1940, Page 3

SUNDAY COLUMN

NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. DEVOTIONAL READING. (Conducted by the Ashburton . Ministers’ Association). CONFIDENT OF THIS VERY THING (From the “New Zealand Baptist.”) From the rumours with which daily papers and daily talk teem, the entrance into the Bible is entrance into another climate. The ifs, perhaps, and “I hears” are replaced by verily, verily. The ancient mountains, the solemn stars are npt more resolute than the voice of the evangel. The ebbing and flowing of the tide of national fortune, ■or of private fortune, do not obscure the basic certainties of Scripture. One thing is taken for granted. God cannot bp; defeated in the long last. He certainly can be impeded pro tern, but that js all. The kingdom will come. We may use wishful thinking about the war in Europe, but not about the holy war. The issue is more certain than, the morning, and “though Ho delay yet will 1 wait for Him.” Take' a. phrase at random from the quarry of Paul’s Epistles. He is talking from a dungeon to recent Christians in Phillipi. They have not been. Christians for long. They were girt about, with aggressive paganism, but Paul declares himself “confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in. you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That is a fine confidence. ' Politicians are certain of nothing. The. Apostle is certain of the salvation of his Christians and of the salvation of the world. His certainty is not based on the; resolutions of his Christians, but on the resolute Saviour. In his view a Christian, who keeps the faith, keeps it because he is kept. The keeping power of that holy love which will not let us go is tho ground of our confidence. In India the distinction between those who kec-p and those who are kept is reflected in the monkey and the cat respectively. The young of the- monkey cling to their mother desperately as she climbs or flees —everything depends on their grip. The young of the cat are carried by the mother—their safety depends on her. Paul belonged, Augustine belonged, Calvin belonged, Spurgeon belonged to the “cat” sect. And so do we. We are in the hands of a God Who finishes what He begins. ' Prize ithis word from Samuel Rutherford, “If Christ had been in this matter as wilful and short as I was my faith had gone over the hill and broken its neck. But we were; well met, a hasty fo»l and a wise, patient, and meek Saviour.” Be- certain of this very thing, and He Who began will finish it. ENERGY OF MIND. “It is worth while to look at the type of character Jesus admires. How many of the parables turn on energy? Thus the parable- of the talents turns _ on energetic thinking and decisive action ; and these- are the things that Jesus admires —in the widow who will have justice ; in the vigorous man who found the treasure and made sure' Of it; in the friend at midnight, who hammered, hammered, hammered till he. got his loaves ; in the man who will hack o-ff his band to enter into life. On the other side He is always against the life of drift, the half-thought-out life. There is tho person who everlastingly says and does not do, who promises to work and does not work, who receives a new idea with enthusiasm but has not enough depth ,of nature for it to root itself, who builds upon sand, the sort that compromises, that tries to serve God and mammon, all the practical half-and-half people. It is energy of mind He calls for—either with Mo or against Me.” GOOD WORKMANSHIP. “O- Son of Man, Who spent long years of labour at the bench, fashioning wood and building houses, Who didst buy and didst sell, and didst keep a home- together with the work of Tlrv hands, teach us the dignity ol' labour. “Inspire in us the love of good workmanship. When wo are tempted to slovenly habits and slipped work, may we remember Thee and' the perfection of Thy craftsmanship. Give us the spirit that will persevere, and so in the end win its own reward. And if, through the greed of men, or the injustice of society, our labour is without profit and without joy, yet give us that spirit which shall keep us faithful in the little things, so that wo may Im worthy to work for that new a are where men’s joy is in their work, and where in the handiwork of their craft is their prayer.” RELIGION AND THE HOME. How should personal religion manifest itself in home relations? You may recall George Eliot’s remark, apropos of Bulstrode, concerning persons whoso “celestial intimacies seem not to improve their domestic manners.” It is a matter for regret that we ever possess “company manners,” for truly sincere graciousness must bo deep-rooted, and where better to strike those roots than in the- borne? RELIGION IS ... . Religion is primarily neither doing good nor being good, but being connected with Someone with whom we do far better things, and become far better men and women than is possible by ourselves. PREACHING AS WE WALK. St. Francis of Assissi, speaking to a young monk, said: “L-et us go down to the town and preach.” So they went out together. They walked the streets -and turned toward the monnstry again. The monk reminded St. Francis of his purpose. Francis replied: “My son, we have preached. Wo were preaching while we were walking. We have been seen of many. Our bcihaviour has been closely watched. It was thus that we- preached our morning sermon. It is of no use, my son, to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk.” A PRAYER FOR COURAGE. On the beautiful bronze memorial to Robert Louis StevensOn in the -Side Chapel of St. Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, there are inscribed those, words —a prayer of this gallant soul: “Give ns grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiret mind Spare to us our friends. • Soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to en-

counter that which is to come, that wo may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.”