THE QUIET HOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 June 1924, Page 15

THE QUIET HOUR.

(Published bv arrangement with the Hawera Ministers’ Association.) A PRAYER, Lord! Our Light and our Salvation, help us, xve beseech Thee, to enter into and abide in the secret place of the Most High, and may the shadow of the Almighty be our covering defence. Help each of us to set his love upon Thee, to bring thoughts and affections and purposes to Thyself, to think as Thou dost teach us to love as Thou hast loved us, to do and will as Thou dost command us. So may we live in union with Thyself, and our word-worship lie in harmony with our consecration of life, in our daily work. —Amen.—Alexander Maclaren.

THE SPIRIT OF POWER AND LOVE “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” —2nd Timothy, 1, 7. v ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear,” of fearfulness, of timidity. The Holy Ghost does not create neutralities, character without force, colourless and impotent. A spirit of feai'fulness would have no “go,” no impressiveness, no decision Its strength would hi drained away hv its own timidities. This 1 is not the character of the man filled with the Holy Ghost. What, then, is he like ? What like is the spirit of man when filled with the fullness of : God? 1. It is a- spirit of Power. Power is the first characteristic of the man who is full of the Holy Ghost. What is this, but to say that the Holy Ghost creates force of character? In every life there is an executive government which may be either vigorous or limp. That executive government is the will. If the will be like a weak galvanic battery. then all my conduct will be wanting iii brightness and decision. But if my will be like a battery well charged with power, then all my conduct will be characterised by intensity and pi‘ecision. Force of character is pi'oportioned to strength of will. The life of Jesus thrills with positive power. There is nothing pliable about it. It is strong, decided, and bold, moving along with irresistible force, turned neither to the right hand noi* to the left, neither threatened by the stones of the world nor allured by its crowns. It was “a spirit of power.” That i s one of the gifts offered to men bv the grace of God. We can have our wills recharged from the superabundant energy of the strong Son of God. The Holy Ghost will “take the things of Christ” and give them unto us. The Holy Ghost, working in man, woi-ks both “to will and to do,” changing weak, wavering wills into steadfast ones, and the spirit of fear into the spirit of power. 2. But that would not be enough. Bad men have often great force of character. Thei'e is nothing more perilous than blind power. The spirit of power must be allied with something else, or we may drive into a terrible ditch. So the spirit of power must be allied with the spirit of love. The spirit of love is the orgaxi of vision. The finest knowledge is gained by the finest feeling. Sympathy is the great interpreter of secrets. Love is sight. It is only the loveless who are blind. The loveless do not see the beauties of Natui'e. It is only when love is enthroned that there is “a new heaven and a new earth,’ and that all things become new.” The loveless clo not- see- the truth of humanity. It is Love who sees the wickedness of the city, and weeps over it. It is Love who sees the lingering beauty in a Magdalene, and yearns over it. The capacity to love is the capacity to judge. If we are to know the truth of things, w r e need the spirit of love. And my text tells me that this again is the gift of the spirit of love. He who gives the will to do the truth will also, give the love to know it. He strengthens the will and gives men force of character. He enriches the heart and gives men power to see and know the truth. 3. “A sound mind.” That is the third characteristic endowment of a man filled with the Holy Ghost. Now .a sound mind is a healthy mind, a mind which delights in the things which are pure, which passionately enjoys them, and which turns away from the impui-e with sti’ong revulsion and disgust. The “sound mind” abhors * ‘‘that which is evil”; it relishes that which is good. So that a sound mind is just a healthy moral palate, a taste for the things of God. This again is the gift of the Holy Ghost, creating in man a moral sanity which enables him to sing, “How sweet are Thy words unto my taste.” Now. sum it all up: The man _ filled with the Holy Ghost has a “spirit of power”— capacity to do the t.iuxth; “a spirit of love”—capacity to know the truth: and “a sound mind”—capacity to Idvg the truth.—J H. Jowett. THE MAGNANIMITY OF JESUS. One aspect of the Master’s attitude toward unfriendly people is evident; whenever a man did Him a wrong. He upon the wrong as a sure sign of a deep need in the man’s life. An insult or a blow seemed to Him a signal of moral need flung out from His enemy’s heart. Jesus thought first, not of the wrong done to Him, but of the pitiable need of the man who was so ignorant and perverted as to do it. When the Samaritan village used Him He was sorry for the villager's rather than resentful to Himself ; when Judas betrayed Him. he was concerned with Judas’ pitiable failure—- | turned into an apostate when lie might | have been an apostle—rather than with | the bitter wrong done to Him. His 1 magnanimity was simply one part of I His disinterested, self-forgetful love for all sorts of inen. Men have many ways of revealing their need of help —by ask!ing for it or hv showing unconsciously the evidence of misery and want; hut when they are bitter, unfriendly, ungrateful, they show even a deeper need. We must think of their need and not of our wrong—that is magnanimity. It is .said of Henry Ward Beecher that !no one ever felt the full force of his kindness xxntil he had done Beecher an injury. This is Paul’s meaning when he says “Love taketh no account of evil,” that is, does not keep a memori andn of injuries l'ereived. but forgets, 1 forgives, and tries to help. —H. E-. Fosdick.

Still with Thee, (> my Clod, 1 would desire to he; By day, by night, at home, abroad, T would he still with Thee. With Thee, when dawn comes in And rails me back to care ; Each day returning to begin With Thee, my Clod, in prayer. With Thee amid the crowd That throngs the busy mart; To hear Thv voice, ’mid clamour loud Speak softly to my heart. With Thee, when day is done And evening calms the mind; The setting, as the rising sun, With Thee my heart would find. With Thee, in Thee, by faith Abiding 1 would he; ,Bv day, hy night, in life, in death, I would he still with Thee. —J. P, Burns.