SUNSET.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1026, 23 March 1894, Page 3

SUNSET.

There is a singular charm abo-it the setting sun. There is, no doubt, a wondrous glory about the rising sun, but to get up, early enough to witness it is a grace not given to all. _So, too, there must be an equal glory in the sun's meridian splendor, but ' men are so busy with their work that they t\n> unconscious even of the very ligh.t which makes their. -work possible. But as the sun sinks towards the west, even thoughtless eyes ttun to gaze and wonder. Nature herself seem» to hush her hurries and her discords, to watch ' the last red crimson wave that drifts the sun away.'. So is it with the sunsets" of life. The morning tide and the. high noons never take us with a pathos like the twilight and slow descending dark. Millet, the great French painter, used to say to his? pupils : ' Lajin dun joitr e'est Cepreuve dun tableaux '— the end of the clay is the proof of a picture. He meant that the twilight hour, when there is not. light enough to distinguish details, is the most favorable time to judge of a picture as a whole ; and so is it with life. ' When the cross lights of jealous emulation arid the glare of constant notoriety are drifting towards the darkness,' where lies the true, pure judgment of God,' then a certain grave hush conies over those who judge. They ' watch tlv: sunset of life with " larger other eyos," ' than ever they turned to the morning or meridian sky.

We have been led lo write this in view of, the retirement of the greatest statesman of our age from the stage of active life. Mr Gladstone has surrendered for'the last time the seals of office. Probably no. greater name, no more wonderful career, has ever appeared in our history.. It would be ridfculous in us to attempt here any estimate of the character of this singular personality. It would be an impertinence to praise him. ' The common places of ordinary eulogy,' as liussel Lowell said of Garfiekl, ' stammer with the shame of their own ineptitude.' Yet as we stand, with others, feeling still upon us the spell of the sunset of this won Jerful life, it is not unfitting that we should refer to one aspect of his character. The references . in the daily Press have largely dealt with the political career of this man, who has moved as a sun nmong the lights of the political sky. It is not as a politician, however, that w.^ desire to view him. There will be differences of opinion as to the worth of his work in this capacity, and the Christian Outlook has no desire to commit itself to political partisanship. It desires to draw attention to the Christian element in the character of him whose sun is going down in the west. It is a thing to be noted that the ' foremost captain of our time ' is also among the foremost of- Christian believers In these clays, when many of those in high positions, politically and intellectually, are shy ofconfessing their faith in a, living God, who has made a revelation of his redeeming love in Christ., it is something to be thankful for that Mr Gladstone did not stand among these dumb ' kings of modern thought.' He was" never afraid or ashamed of the Christian creed. Nor was he slow, amid his multifarious duties, to ' contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.' Th°re may be a difference of opinion as to the worth of his contributions to theological controversy, but there can be only one opinion as to the sternousness and sincerity of his belief. He showed his faith- by his works. We all know his ardent admiration for the splendid products that the Greek genius has left, hjlt he once told the students of Edinburgh University that theßook of Psalms was greater than all these. He was old-fashioned enough to believe that a { Sahbath well spent brings a week of content, and strength for the cares of to-morrow '• and no State duties were ever allowed to shut out the duty of pra7/er and worship. And he has testified that it was to such observance of the Sabbath that he owed the mental and physical strength which carried him through the week's work. It is an example full of deep significance that England's greatest statesman might be found, Sunday by Sunday, quietly reading prayers in his own church, and kneeling humbly with the humblest worshippers of Hawarden. Nor was his religion mere ritual observance only. His life was- full of practical beneficence. The * other worldliness,' which has done so much to eviscerate church going of its strength and power, never exercised its baleful influence on him. He remembered that an essential part of pure religion and undented was to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. It is not very long since a story went the rounds of the newspapers that this noblest nobleman, amid the cai*es of State, was accustomed to find time to read and pray with a sick crossing sweeper whose acquaintance he, had casually made on the street.

His influence ever made for righteousness. Ab the present moment it is good to remind ourselves of his attitude towards the great drink sin. Recently, addressing a vast meeting in "Liverpool, not. the least eloquent and impressive part of his speech was the reference to this question. He spoke of it' as ' a national cursp,. calamity, Yind scandal,' and he called ,to his hearers 'to do what in us lies, each man within his

sphere, for the purpose of mitigating I and removing it.'. And he did not ask j men to follow whither he, himself, led not the way. His Government has been the only* one that has ever yet courageously grappled with the question, and his own example has been, always on 7 tke Temperance side. Sixty yeai's agn he set it to the Oxford of that time," and a recent writer has said 1 that tin* effect of his example "then and there n-as so Strong that men who followed him 10 years later declare that they drank - less in the forties bpcai:sf> Gladstone had been so courageously abstemious in the- thirties.' Let this give us hope and inspiration for our struggle here. And for him who has borne himself so nobly through the long yeats, he has well earned rest. He may fitly use the words of one who is only a few years — four — his junior, 0 W. Holmes, on retiring from the staff of the Atlantic Monthly : — But, oh, my gentle sisters, oh, my brothers, These thicksown snowflakes hint of toil's release, These feeble pulses bid me leave to others The tasks once welcome : evening asks for peace. And peace and light may there be to him' at the evening tide ! Not, indeed, peace — if we may borrow the words of our most promising singer, now that Tennyson is silent — William Watson : Nob peace that grows by Lethe, scentless flower There, in white languors to decline and cease, But peace whose names are also rapture, power, Clear sights, and love — for these are parts of peace. — Christian Outlook.