QUIET HOUR

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 20 February 1926, Page 16

QUIET HOUR

GOOD BUSINESS. The spirited reply of a Glasgow minister to a London firm of solicitors lias aroused widespread interest in the north. Linking overtures with a view to purchase of his church for a business site, the solicitors wrote offering a substantial sum. We reprint a few sentences of the minister’s reply: “. . .We are out to supply the world’s most urgent need, which is not cash, but character. We therefore regard our present position in the centre of the city as the finest site in Great Britain for a Christian church. In our judgment there is no more challenging or strategic situation in all the land. “It may be worth while to point out that we are an important branch of the largest and perhaps the oldest established enterprise in the world. It commenced centuries ago with Father and Son, and the volume of its labours increases every year. . . The Founder and Managing Director has issued instructions that more extensive ventures be at once commenced, and the staff is endeavouring to enlist men and women of the right sort in the business. “Investors are assured of infinite dividends, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and. where thieves do not break through nor steal. . . In its ultimate form the business will be a Kingdom, into which kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour. It is a special department of our business to make men kingly. I trust you may be able to have the joy of seeing the' Kingdom extend. . .’’ If there be any who have come to imagine that gold is almighty, that big business can save the world, and that dividends are the measure of its fitness, let them mark well such words. With pride we raise the Cross of Jesus as the only means of Salvation for a sin-weary world, and it is with justifiable pride that we declare the business of Salvation to be the only business that matters to the ( soul of man..

A king about to embark upon a war with Rome was asked by one of his oldest counsellors what he proposed to do when he had conquered that city. ' ‘ I shall subdue Italy, ’ ’ replied the sovereign. “And what then, O king?’’

“I shall proceed to the conquest of Carthage, of all Africa, of Greece itself.’’

“And then?” persisted the philosopher. “Then,” replied the king, “will I sit down and take my ease. I will spend my days in peace and comfort.” “Ah, sire!” cried the counsellor, “what prevents you from doing so now?”

Think not that we preach inertia and the destruction of legitimate ambition. What we do ask men to consider is the final value of those things upon which they have set their hearts. How often we hear of “successful” business men who complain of having lost health, friends and love, the very things for which they had spent long years of toil. All too often the end thereof is not rest and peace, but the bitterness of the consciousness of failure to play one’s part as a fellow to those round about, and the despair of disillusion.

“What shall it profit a man . “Now is the day . . .!”—not ten, twenty, thirty years hence! Do you want happiness?—peace? —love? What, but your own self, prevents your enjoyment of them now?

Were a man possessed of sufficient wealth to purchase the site of a cathedra], that of itself could not procure that health of soul which comes when the principle of sin is taken from the heart and the indwelling of God is known. This is the true wealth of life

DISTRACTIONS AT PRAYER. Ah, dearest Lord! I cannot pray, My fancy is not free; Unmannerly distractions come, And force my thoughts from Thee. The world that looks so dull all day Glows bright on me at prayer, And plans that ask no thought but then Wake up and meet me there. Old voices murmur in my ear, ~ New hopes start into life, And past and future gaily blend, In one -bewitching strife. Yet Thou art oft most present, Lord! In weak, distracted prayer; A sinner out of heart with self Most often finds Thee there. For prayer that humbles, sets the soul From all illusions free, And teaches it how utterly, Dear Lord, it hangs on Thee. These surface troubles come and go, Like rufflings of the sea; The deeper depth is out of reach To all, my God, but Thee. ' —Faber. I CANNOT CEASE TO LOVE. (Written by Madame Guyon in Prison.) Strong are the walls around ,me; That hold me all the day; But they who thus have bound me, Cannot keep God away: .My very dungeon walls are dear, Because the God I love is here.

They know, who thus oppress me, ’Tis hard to be alone; But know not One can bless me, Who comes through bars of stone: He makes my dungeon’s darkness bright, And fills my bosom with delight. ’Tis that which makes my treasure, ’Tis that which brings my gain; Converting woo to pleasure, And reaping joy from, pain. Oh, ’tis enough, whate’er befall, To know that God is All in All. Love constitutes my crime; For this they keep me here, Imprisoned thus so long a time For Him I hold so dear; And yet I am, as when I came, The subject of this holy flame. How can I better grow? How from my own heart fly? Those who imprison me - should know True love can never die. Yea, tread and crush it with disdain, And it will live - and burn again. And am I then to blame? He’s always in my sight; And having once inspired the flame, He always keeps, it bright. For this they smite me and reprove, Because I cannot cease to love. THE JOY OF LIVING. CANNOT BE FOUND OUTSIDE OF WORK. As a follower of Christ you ought to have some work to do for Him, for the doing of which you make yourself individually responsible, and which you

seek with all your might to carry out. How are you to find put the work that you can specially make your own?

Ask yourself what work you feel most led to do. What have you most sympathy with ? In other words, what would you most prefer to do? Ask yourself what wmrk you think you are adapted for. What can you do best ?

Ask what work you. have the best chance of doing. What" door is open to you? , Look around you. Consider the matter; but oh, for the sake of the Christ who died for you, and the souls that are perishing, do get some special work of your own! It will be good for you and for all concerned.

To have h work for which you are specially responsible, and in which you are particularly, interested, will help you to resist the temptations of the Devil.

If you possess the spirit of Christ you will want to work for others. He was interested in everybody’s affairs, and He helped others in their work; but He had His own special work, and He did it. He came to suffer and die for you and me, and He suffered and died. He does not ask us to do His work, but He wants us to find out our own work, and to do that. He will bless you and make you happy in it.