The Leisure Hour

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12390, 30 July 1937, Page 7 (Supplement)

The Leisure Hour

ONE OF THE HAVE-NOTS Courage and Contentment A great many people must know Watts’ famous picture, Sic transit gloria mundi. The picture is that of the figure of a dead nobleman. His body is covered Avith a pearlgrey shroud. Round the bier are grouped in soft, faded tints all the brilliant possessions Avhich had been his pride and glory. On the ground lie an ermine robe, a laurel Avreath, a shield, spear and gauntlets, Flowers are mingled with the Aveapons and armour, and among the emblems of Avarfare and chivalry rest a lyre and a half-opened book. These are to tell us that, though he Avas a man of Avar, yet he had enjoyed life and seen good days. Among the shadows by his feet is spread out the cast-off cloak of a pilgrim. Paintings of still life and still death do not appeal to everyone, and it is not especially the stark shroud or the roses Avhich I ever Avish to remember about this picture, but rather the Avords of an old German proverb Avhich the artist has painted beloAV the bier: “What I spent I had; Avhat I saved I lost; what I gave I have.” The picture is a parable Avith more than one interpretation. It is a lesson that success is not everything; that all that a man can take Avith him into the other world is his real character; that even the pilgrim robe must at last be left behind. It will remind us, too, that it is more blessed to give than to hold or receive. The motto is inscribed beneath a figure of still death. Sometimes Ave come across people in real life Avho Ave feel are Avorthy to claim that motto. I think of one, greatly respected, Avidely travelled, Avho once held good positions; iioav homeless and nearly penniless, forsaken by a Avife, with a fear of lurking cancer, happily now completely cured for some years; yet one of the most contented and plucky people I have been privileged to knoAV. He has certainly spent all that he had. Others have lost all that he had saved. -He would tell you that he could call nothing his OAvn. Yet he possesses treasures of courage and contentment yvhich no money or good fortune could buy. And of these qualities he possesses, not only sufficient for himself, but plenty to spare to impart to those avlio happen to know him. Godliness, I knoAV that he has; and it is his godliness Avhich has given him courage and, learnt him contentment; and, as Ave are told, “Godliness is a great means of gain for a man if he rightly estimates the value of things.” What Avould not some people give to be able to say: “I will not be afraid of any evil tidings; for my heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord?” Lord, if I had the choice to don One virtue as a cloak of gold, ’Twould be the cloak of courage I Avould wear, Courage to speak when speech can help, The strength to leave unsaid the words That passing anger tempts the lips to speak; Valour to fight when only death Can he the end, and fight, so well That men shall see in death but victory; Daring to raise my thoughts above The mundane cares that strangle life. Courage to bring none pain, courage to dream. So Avhen the end comes I may pass Into the vale that lies beyond, jVnd Avear the cloak of courage as I SO. Yes, I saAV the cloak of courage on gravel, clay, sand, chalk, sandstones, granite, iron, until w r e come to the vast, raging furnaces of the earth’s interior. And there you Avould find heating poAver equivalent to the burning of some 80,000 tons of coal a second.

the back of this little gentleman of the Old Contemptible unemployed black-coated battalion. And a twinkle in his eye and the grasp of his hand told me that he Avas a contented man, ajnd kneAv hoAv to abound and hoAv to suffer loss. I suppose that St. Paul is one of the great patron saints of contentment; “In respect of Avant, I have learned, in Avhatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” That thing Avhich he besought the Lord, thrice, to depart from him, did not depart. But he Avas content to bear the trial patiently, and he possessed his soul in confident trust. Knowing the Avill of God, he troubled himself no more about it: “I know both lioav to be abased, and I knoAV how to abound; lioav to be full and how to be hungry. I can do all things, through Christ Avhich strengtheneth me.” And from his OAvn experience he could appeal to his beloved son in the faith, St. Timothy: “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain Ave can carry nothing out. And, having food and raiment, let us thereAvith be content.”

The world, I know, often seems jaggedly split into halves, into the Haves and the Have-Nots. Yet many of the Haves could truly say, “What I spent, I had; what I saved, I lost”; and many a Have-Not can say, “What I gave, I have.” Perhaps the most fortunate people of all are the Haves who have discovered the joy of living and giving. But I expect that those who will reap most at thft end, and brmg more sheaves than any of us, are some of the Have-Not with armfuls of courage and hearts brimming over with contentment. I think that many of them might share the epitaph of Crosland, one of our unknown English poets: If I should ever be in England’s thought After I die, Say, “There were many things he might have bought And did not buy. Unhonoured by his fellows he grew old. And trod the path to hell, But there were many things he might have sold And did not sell.” The Use of Adversity Naturalists discover the most beautifully coloured plants on the highest mountains. Exposed to, and nurtured by, the keenest winds and wildest storms, have sprung up lichens and mosses of tfe most rich and attractive hue. And so, on the bleak hills of adversity, the Christian’s character is more mellowed and beautified than in the shady, quiet vale of prosperity. There he adds to his faith, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, and all the beautiful hues of grace which adorn the life of the believer. There, natural roughness is softened and toned — the heavenly takes the place of the earthly—and he is able to say; Amidst my list of blessings infinite, Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled. For all I bless thee most for the severe. Changed to Israel Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, after deceiving his father and cheating Esau, fled to Haran to his uncle Laban. After twenty years he decided to return to Canaan. He left his uncle without notice, and was pursued by him. Having made satisfactory arrangements with his uncle, Jacob began to dread the meeting with Asau. His conscience worried him. He heard that Esau was coming to met him with four hundred men, ■ and he was afraid. - He decided to give Esau a handsome present of flocks and herd's, and sending his servants ahead with the present, Jacob waited at the Jabbok ford. It was here with the memory of his past deceit, ahd his forgetfulness of God upon him that “There w.restled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” As a result of this experience Jadob’s name was changed to Israel and at the command of God he went back to Bethel, built there an altar, and gave his life afresh to God.