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THE QUIET HOUR.

(Published by arrangement with the Hawera Ministers’ Association.)

A PRAYER FOR ALL.

“Lord bf the nations, far and near, Send forth Thy quickening breath, Equip us for the tasks of life, Save us from deeds of death; Enlist us in Thy ranks to fight Fair freedom’s holy war, Whose -battle-cry is ‘Brotherhood’ Ear-flung from shore to shore.” GOD’S LOVE THE SOURCE OP SALVATION. The well-known preacher, Dr. Guthrie, said on one occasion, ‘Some talk as if we were saved just because Christ paid our debt, representing God’s share in the transaction as little else than that of a severe, stern, unrelenting creditor, who takes no interest in his imprisoned debtor beyond letting him out when the surety has taken up th© bond-. Is this true? Is it fair to God? True? It is utterly false. Salvation flows from a higher source than Calvary even. It has it 6 fountain, not in the cross of the incarnate Son, but in the bosom of the eternal Father. The central truth of the Bible, that on which I fey the greatest stress, is this: that God does not love us because Christ died for us, but that Christ died for us because God loved us. With this agrees the Scripture which says, ‘God commendeth His own; love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ Rom. v., 8. Also the declaration of I. John, iv., 9-10, that ‘Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we. loved. God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’

“Oh, ’twas love, ’twas wondrous love! The love of God to me ■ It brought my. Saviour from above, To die on Calvary.”

CONFIDENCE I.N DARKNESS.

Though the mariner sees not the pole-star, yet the needle of the compass which points to it tells him which way he sails. Thus the heart that is touched with the loadstone of Divine love, trembling with godly fear, and yet still looking towards God bv fixed believing, interprets the fear by the love in the fear, and tells the soul its course is heavenward, towards the haven of eternal rest. —Archbishop Leighton. . A COMPLETE ANSWER TO SCEPTICISM. One convert from heathen customs and life is a complete answer to scepticism. The change from tomahawk and scalping-knife and scalps dangling at a belt, to visiting the widows and the fatherless, and to a life kept unspotted from the world as seen in Chief Kipkapelican, an Oregon Indian, is proof of something more than hypnotism by an evangelist. WHITE ROBES AND PALMS. (By J. H. Jowett.) All the members of the great company which stood before the throne and lief ore the Lamb carried “palms in their hands.” The palm was a favourite symbol of the Hebrew people. Perhaps its gracefulness, its qiieenliness, its faithful endurance throughout • the changing seasons, had made the people regard it as a beautiful and persistent friend. It was used as a symbol of conquest and sovereignty, and as such it has come down to our own day. We speak of a man as “taking the palm,” by which we indicate that, after malting a comparison, we decide that among many men this man is the victor, the best. So the palm is the emblem of conquest.. This multitude “whom no man could number,” comprising every nation and every tongue, bear palms in their hands. What have they conquered? Self. Each has dethroned himself that lie may crown his brother. By love they serve one another. Family life is impossible when each member is self-assertive and constitutes a force of personal aggression. Family life is possible and "beautiful when every member carries a palm, a symbol that self is merged and lost in the welfare of the whole. Happily, they who have washed their robes in the cleansing energies of the Christ, appropriate the Master’s Spirit, and in the constraining power of His crucifixion are willing and ready to crucify themselves. They who wash in His blood acquire the spirit of sacrifice, and sacrifice itself. Thev who wear the white robes also , bear the palm.

THE ESSENCE OF HEROISM

The essence of heroism is its persistence. Anybody can be good at a sprint. But to keep on being good—that it what troubles us. To be good to bad people, kind to the cruel, gracious to the unthankful and evil, to keep a smiling, radiant face, and a warm, loving heart, to hold one’s faith in man undimmed and trust in God unquenched—this is to join hands with the Christ of all ages, to die with the Lord Christ on Calvary, and by His open grave to live and strive again. The S°n of God goes forth to war—against ‘ugliness, stupidity, disease, selfishness, and sin! Who follows in His train?

HOW TO FIGHT EVIL. If you want to fight evil, fight it at high altitudes; get with your Master on a pinnacle; fight your"battle, if I might so speak, under the very eye of God; live amongst the noblest things; dream, as you walk by the wayside, about what is sacred aiid Divine, and I tell you that, whatever the conflict may sometimes be with temptation, you shall be more than conqueror through Him that hath loved 3'ou. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A COMFORTER. We need to magnify more this office of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter. People listen to sermons, and turn away saying, “O, that it meant for the folks with black crape on their door-knobs and incurable consumptives.” Jesus was talking to rugged, bronzed fishermen, and men Hke them in all ages, when He said, “He shall give you another Comforter.” This Comforter is for the engineer on his cab, the minister on blue Monday, the downhearted business man, the bilious reformer, the despondent wreck, the one suffering the smart of failure, the timid, misunderstood child, the nervous mother. There’s a divine Comforter shadowing every son of sorrow, with cheer for him who will admit the Holy Spirit to his life. A LITTLE SERMON ON PAIN.

Why do we suffer? Is pain a necessary part of the trembling fabric of existence ? Is it curse or blessing ?

The Orient saiv, in the mystery of suffering, only the stroke o*f the IaAV of retribution, saw only an effect descending upon the soul as the reaction of its own sin. So the word of the Orient is Resignation. Greece saw in suffering only a blind blow dealt by the capricious hand of Destiny—a bloiv for Avhich there was no hope, no consolation. The word of Greece was Endurance.

But Jesus came, rei'ealing a new meaning for pain. He shows it to he remedial, redemptme; shows how it can break doors out of the shut house of self. The heart is dead until it begins to feel the touch of the worldpain, and only through our own little inlet of sorrow can. avo come to feel the. tide of the great sea. I can well believe that only the souls enriched by sorrow Avili e\'er find the inner and more mysterious chambers of the Divine. They only Avili have that precipitate of experience that makes us kindred to the gods.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HAWST19241122.2.107

Bibliographic details

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 November 1924, Page 15

Word Count
1,230

THE QUIET HOUR. Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 November 1924, Page 15

THE QUIET HOUR. Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 November 1924, Page 15

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