THE QUIET HOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 16

THE QUIET HOUR.

THE HABIT OF MEDITATION

(By arrangement • with the Hawera Ministers’ Association.;

Cultivate the habit of reflective, meditation upon the truths of the Gospel as giving you the pattern of duty m a concentrated and available form.. It is of no use to carry about a. copy of the “Statutes at large”. in twenty folio volums’ in' .oixler to refer to itv when difficulties arise arid crises come. Wc- must have something a great deijil mote compendious and easy of reference than that. , A man’s cabin-trunk must be ;as big. as a house, and hia goods must be in a small compass for his . sea voyage. We have in Jesua Christ the “Statutes at Large,” eodifled arid put into a- form which- the poorest and humblest and busiest among us can apply directly to the sudden emergencies and Isurprising contingerioies v of daily life, which ate always sprung upon us when we do riot expect them and demand instantaneous deoision. We have - in Christ the pattern of all conduct. ■ But- only < those' who liave been accustomed to medi-; tate upon Him, and .on the truths that flow' from His life: arid death, will find that the sword i® ready when It is needed, and that the guide is'at thf?ir -side when they fare in perplexity. Cultivate the habit of meditating -on the truths .of the Gospel, in order that the motives of conduct may be reinvigonated and strenghthened And remember that only by long and habitual’ abiding in .thej secret place- of thb Most High, and entertaining the thoughts of His. infinite, love td us the continual attitude of bur daily life, shall we be able to respond ,to His love with the thankfulness which springs to obedience as a delight, and knpws no ioy of .serving such a Friend. From _“The God of the t Amen, and Other Sermons,” by Dr. Alexander Maclaren. • THE SYMPATHY OF JESUS.

. sympathy of Jesus was a" feelmg for all that is human. He did not condole . with -Zacchaeus- upon his ■ trials; He did not preach to him about his sins; He did not force his way into ;his house''to lecture , him : He simply said : “I will abide at thv hmisq ; thereby: identifying himself a publican—thereby acknowledges for a brother. Zacchaeus a pu'blicT r n - ' Zacchaeus a sinner? Yes : but Zaoehaeus is a man. His heart throbs at cutting words; he has a sense of human honour; he feels the burning shame of a world’s disgrace. Lost? Yes; but the Son of Man, with the blood of the human race in His veins, is a Brother to.the lost. It is m this entire and perfect sympathy with all humanity that the heart of Jesus difters from every other heart that is found among the sons of. men. l ? this--ph, it is this!—rwhich lSi the chief blessedness of having such a paviour. If you are poor you can only get a miserable sympathy from the rich; with the best intentions they cannot understand you. Their sympathy is awkward._ If you are in pairi, it is only a fictitious, and constrained sympathy you can get from those in health—rfeelirigs forced, adopted kihdly, but. imperfect still. They sit, when the regular condolence is done, beside you, conversing on topics with each other that jar upon your eat. \ They sympathise ? Miserable comforters are bhby. all! If you are miserable, and your you have the shame of feeling that you are not understood, that, you have bared your inner self to a rude gaze. If you are in doubt you cannot tell your doubts to religious people^—no, not even to the ministers of Christ, for they have no place for doubts in their largest system. They ask,- "What light have you =th doubt?' They .suspect your character. They shake, the head,' and wiisper it about that you read strange books—that you are verging : on ;: infidelity.; If you are pressed with guilt to whom shall you turn out your tale of shame? , The , concessional, with its innumerable evils, and yet indisputably- soothing power, is passed away; 'but there is nothing to supply its place. Yob cannot speak to your brother-ihan, for you injure him by doing so, or else weaken yourself; You cannot'' tell it' to. society, Ibr .society judges- in the. gross by general rules, and cannot take* into account the delicate differences of transgression. It banishes the frail penitent and. does homagfe to the daring, hard transgi'essor.. ■ - '

Then it is that, repulsed on all sides and lonely, w© turn to HiiAj whosomighty heart understands and feels all. “Lord, t-q, whom shall yve go ? , Thou hast the words of eternal life.” And then it is that-—-exactly like Zajcchaeus, misunderstood, suspected by the word, suspected by our own hearts v + he very voice of God .apparently against us—isolated and apart, we speak to Him from the loneliness of. the sycamore tree, heart to heart and: pulse to pulse : “Lord . Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest my secret charities and my untokl .self-denials; Tlhou knowest that I love Thee. ”—F. W. Ttbibe rfcson. FR AGMENTS OF THOUGHT ,* Be (not , anxious about , to-morrow.: Do to-day’s duty, fight today's temptation, and do not : weaken and distract yourself by looking forward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them. —Gharles Kingsley. . : - There is an old . ballad .' that tells of how a knight found,; coiling round a tree in a dismal forest, a loathly dragon breathing out poison; and how, undeterred by its hideousneSs and foulness, lie cast his arras round it and kissed it on, the mouth. Three times he did it uiidisgusted. and at the third the shape changed into a fair lady, and he won his bride. Christ “kisses with the kisses of Hiis mouth'' His enemies, and makes them His friends because He loves them.—Dr. Maelaren.

Words once spoken can never die •, they will turn up in the day of judgment. like things of life, and will either aicQnit or condemn. —Evere-tt. When men touch each other with the to neb of God. and love each other with, the hjve of G-xl. and serve each other with the sacrificial heart.of God, + hec the will be one concordant to-milr.. The solvent-of everv problem of seriety is the love of God.—George D. Herron. Jesus, the-se eyes have never seen That- radiant form of Thine. I Thee not. I hear Tliee not, Yet Thou are oft with me, And earth has ne’er so dear a spot As where I meet with The.