RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 161, 9 July 1910, Page 12

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

ffHS BIB3>S -AWD ELOWESS AS (Preached., at the Chutch of. Scotland, = - -' West George-street, Glasgow.) "For, Jo, the -winter is past, the raia is ever and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is corse." — Sons of Solomon It si. 12. God's revelation in INatuxe may he Been and read of all men throughout the year, bat especially in spring; feast this season the great miracle of reeirrreetion is taking plase before our eyes. The Divine might and majesty are manifest pre-eminently in the "storms of winter, the Ursine beauty in the loveliness of aaruiner, the Divine goodness in the abmidant xruits of auTurrm. But in spring the Tevrvifying power of the Divine life appears. Yesterday the earth was held in -the icy grasp of "winter, and stillness and death reigned; to-day "The waiter i 3 past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth.-; the time of the. singing of iards is comer*

Civilisation has gathered men and. women in cities. There is doubtless gain in this, 'but who will say that for many there is not serious loss? Hundreds to-day are, "by the necessities of iheir lives, cue off from the sights and sounds of Nature, vrith all that these mean in the eiinsation. of our higher i>elag. Christ Iras given t* 3 three things in a manner and to a degree that *_ ether teacher has. These are life, Hope and Joy, and they are, if you consider it, 4fie three notes of spring.

I life.—Life is everywhere throughout 4he univei3& at all-seasons, but in spring this becomes more manifest, for spring is the renewing of -tie- life of the earth. God manifests Himself in Nature, in ihistory, in. conscience? but it is in Christ thai this maiffestaticn of the iDivine Being as Life finds it 3 highest expression. He was the life, and Hβ came that we anight have Life more abundantly. As a± the' first breath of spring trees begin to bud, so when Christ enters a msnr's heart the death that sin bring 3 with it passes away, and. &. new life begins. The power of example is great, bnt it mil not so transform human life. It is only when the elixir of spring enters the tree that ibe tender bods appear j and. so it is the fenewing life of Christ alone that can sffect the spiritual miracle, of which spring is the natural symbol. To young jnen I would say, Christ comes not to deprive yon of life, but to give you more truer life, and in opening your fcearts to Him your lives Trill be made fuller and richer than they could possibly be "without. Him, You. iuay have ell the culture of anzient asid modern iore, but these, while aids to the spiritual life, if rightly used, will not give you that life itaelf, any more than "the best fertilisers can supersede the need of

Hope.—Again, spring is the season of tope. The winter is passed. Its darkness and severity are gone, and men's liearts axe visited by a- new hope. "\ y e go about our daily tasks more cheerfully; we look forward to .brighter daya. Buddhism inculcates the extinction of human desire. Its heaven is iNirvanii, a condition in which man has attained to the eftaesment of sil desire. Christ comes not to extinguish desire, but as the desire of all nations. Where there is no desire, there fe no tope. 'The buds give us the sure and certain hope of the Soliage and fiowere of strmmer, and so the life of Christ dwelling in us gives promise of a fuller and richer life. It i 3 only in the light of Christ that we can speak iviHi confidence of the. future, fox 2iowever slowly the bud grows, it win. surely develop until it comes to the perfection of the flower. It is this eternal Slope alone that makes this life worth living. Often when we look at the .TMjrfd we are apt to adopt the creed of the pessimist, but in the light of Christ we find everywhere •evidence that a new life is abroad.; that the bud 3of the Divine Ec are everywhere bursting ±orth, and thai what appeared-to be withered ■branches are poising with a divine enrirent that "mil yet clothe them with the ieauty of holiness. It is the inspiration caught from this belief that leads the -gocial worker to grapple with the most difficult problems of our modera life, ifeeling certain that a solution can be found for them; that sends the missionary to the slums and to the heathen svorld, knowing that the spirit of Christ jwip surely raise heathendom out of it 3 <fai±2ies3 and death. What a spring it ;was for Africa, when Livingstone entered' its dark recesses! And to-day we find Ithe same gleam of ihope animating mission work in China and India. The high iopes natural to youth may carry a man ■far, but without the hope that Christ giTt»s life will end at last in disappointssent, for the true life springs not from ■worldly success or happiness, but, like £he life of the tree or flower, it comes from within, and must bs info3ed ttj the Spirit, of God through Christ.

Joy.—Has not simple joy largely gone out of life to-day? We possess more of all the means of living than our fathera, ferfc too often, the means have become the end of life, and we -witness in out literature a sense of melancholy as deep as that of the ancient world. If we deEire that the joy of spring should enter ©ur lives we must seek it where true joy alone can be found —in Christ. On the surface of Greek life there was joy, but beneath dwelt melancholy; and ithough art and culture did much, they could not fEI the aching void. In most Christian lives we find ninch of sorrow and disappointment, but deep down there, is a joy that the world knows not of. Joy comes from participation in truelife. The gamble, the libertine, the idler, have their pleasures, bat they are false and deceitful. Do you wish, to have true joy in your life? Get into close and familiar touch with Christ! All through St. St. Paiil's epistles we find this. Here, was a life of privation, suffering, persecution, yet the web of the great apostle's Efe was shot with the web of joy. The texts in which this appears are familiar to you, "Be filled with the Spirit, (singing to yourselves in and liymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord." 'Tor Tvhat is our hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing: aTe ye not in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at ]£s coming?" What is the secret of "the joyous spirit that pervades bird and tree and flower at this spring season? Is it not that all. consciously or unconsciously, are partici- • pating in a life not their- own, and yet rheirs in a very real sense? ' And so, if our lives are sharing the divine life as revealed in Ckrisfc, we shall experience joy. Life, hooe, joy! Who does not desire thes3? They are to be found in fulness only in Christ.