"DESPAIR AND ITS CAUSES."

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 143, 19 June 1899, Page 2

"DESPAIR AND ITS CAUSES."

The Rev. W. Ready, preaching at Bayfield Church on Sunday morning, spoke on 'Despair and Its Causes.'! In the course of his remarks he said { many in our fair colony had taken one desperate plunge into what Khakspeare calls The swallowing gulf Of dark oblivion and deep despair. They had given up all faith in God and man, had lost hope in themselves, and had no love for God or man. This pessimistic spirit is very conspicuous in the world of fact and j literature. Fatalism had taken possession of many. Such persons lose i sight of all that is bright in life,! hem themselves in with the blackest j gloom, seek a path only in the darkness, where no star of hope shines, allow distrust to take possession of ! their souls, and hatred to reign in ! the domain of their affections. The world is bad enough, but to close one'a eyes to all that is good and lovely in human life is very unwise, yea it is sinful so to do. We protest against this spirit of despair. Open your e3'es and look not for the bad things in Ood'a world, but for the g-ood. You can generally find what you look for. There is some soul of goodness In things evil, Would men obscrvlnsly distil It out. What are the causes of this gloomy and despairing spirit which meets us in the journey of life? They are many—drink, gambling, loss of faith in our fellow-men, loss of hope, and false views of God. He showed how these things bring dark, deep, hopeless despair to settle like a bluck cloud upon many people. To these things may be traced the prevalence of suicides in our day. He pointer, out the remedy for this state of sou1, which was the religion of Jesus Christ. Earthly friends may prove fickle, false, and treacherous, but Jesus Christ will never prove false or fickle. 'He is the same yesterday, to - day and for ever. He invites the weary and heavy laden to come to Him and find rest, and millions can testify that He has done so for them, that amidst the winds of adi versity and the waters of affliction they have experienced a settled peace, a holy calm, an unruffled soul through trust in Him. He has truly ( made life desirable and happy to , j them. He can make life a joy, death a friend, and the grave an avenue to i glory.