SUNDAY READING.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 285, 17 November 1923, Page 12

SUNDAY READING.

LIFE’S GREATEST JOY. ■' ' (By the Rev. Hugh Chapman). EVERYONE in this world is seeking happiness, and, strange though it may seem when first stated, is seeking it by the same highway. Unfortunately, tew of the seekers are finders, and fewer still are broadcasters of the joy they have found. If we look closely into the doings ol ourselves and our fellows, we see that all are trying to find happiness bj escaping irom seif. 15y ail i mean nui only Cnnstians, out every living person —goou anu evil, drunkard anu gambler, orator and traveller, sportsman, anu, most of ail, the slave of passion. But while ad are seeking in© same thing—nuppmess through escape 31 on. gull—omy idiv lew take the scientim. short cut oy saynig “Use me lur iu«_ wonu's salvation.” I’he ouieis, oy indulging every whin, of body and mind in a ceaseless aim futile eiiurt to escape irom the thraldom of sen, remain lettered, unsausii ed, unhappy- One day, pemap a . the., may discover that happiness, or es cape from self, is not self-indulgence, but giving, giving, giving all the way. In other words that the loser is th tinder; that; as Christ said, there is none wdio has forsaken anything in this world for His sake but that shad receive abundantly more in this life anu in the world to come everlasting. Father Lacordaire, one of the most intellectual and spiritual products of Christianity in a great oration of his in Paris, asked if any one had ever completely solve-.. the problem of escape from -self. Tc ask the question was but to sug gest to every one the answer. 01 coarse tuer© was a Man who, from His call to "His death, escaped from Himself, who, though born a King, submitted to the evil and incompetent ruk of inferiors, who served and taught an healed, w’ho showed the way and walked along it, who when He was revilereviled not again, who saved others, but get His face bravely and stedfastly towards Jerusalem, where He voluntarily made the supreme sacrifice of Himself. True, our Master was a Man oi Sorrows, and yet He was also the hap piest man that ever walked the earth. He must have been, for He escaped completely from Himself, and in s< doing showed us that the “greatest joy in lire is to give oneself away.” Ever since the day of the Nazarene His example has appealed both to the heart and brain or persons of all <u grees; all truly happy beings have learned irom Him and Him alone thr secret ui their happiness. They hav. gladly taken His yoke upon them knowing that His yoke instead of a .d ing to the weight of their burdens, ha lightened the load. Though we are a r to quote hard times, bad health, po\ erty, head-aches and heart-aches, anu thousand other things as bars to happiness, we know that if we have tt< tai th of a gram of mustard-seed all 1. well. The unselfish person, he who does h master’s wul rather than his own. glides like a graceful yacht over a waves of trouble, and at last peace fully enters harbour with his flag fl. mg. Before 1 came to the Savoy i worked mr thirty years among the pooi of a Loudon slum, where 1 had numer uus opportunities of discovering that happiness was not the monopoly o. any grade of society. Moving lat. among quite another type I have hat. many opportunities of beholding th misery of riches. How many gloom} paupers have sat on thrones, and how many natural kings have reigned ii “third floor backs” we shall never know until we’ve entered our Father’s king dom. But we do know that whereas to-day piety and true happiness ar. Bometime s found in mansions and pal aces, they are oftener seen among tin poor who are compelled to pray daily for their daily bread and mean it, because thev receive it daily as manna, rarely a day ahead. I know of no greater absurdity thar the envy of wealth by the seeker of hap piness. Those who spend their days seeking only wealth, seeking to make i by the quickest and easiest route, ar missing the true happiness, that which riches have never purchased. Mon has no more to do with true happiness than with Christianity which is without price. The happy Christian place his money with himself on the altar for the service of his Master, But this happiness which comes from self-discipline is not acquired in one day. It takes long years for some oi us to learn complete submission, to escape irom a few of the distractions oi self- But having done so, it is our inescapable -uty to broadcast it everywhere. “Let your light shine,” commanded the Founder of the Faith. Th. Master was most emphatic in His words, jt is an order that we must obey. The object of our doing so is that people may glorify c|t Father in Heaven. W&j is going to glorify the God of a sour-faced professing Christian? After the race for the Derby or gom other event on which people make and lose fortunes we hear Miss So-and-So, who drew the name of the winner in a huge sweepstake, described as the happiest person in the country. In bur hearts we know this cannot be true un less with the money there has come the grace of God. But I have met persons who with reason could claim the honour of being among the happiest in our fair land. Those of my readers wh know their London know Kingsway. on of our finest and newest boulevards. Each day of the week there sits on a chair outside the post office in Kingsway one who, if judged by earthly standards, has less reason for joy in life than most of her neigh hours--for she i s a widow and is blind; she has been blind these twelve years, and has no hojie of a restoration of her sight. Yet she has with good reason l»een dubbed the happiest woman in London. No one who has seen her shining face would ever attempt to dispute the claim made on her behalf. Compared with the gloomy features of the London crowds, her’s is the face of an .angel. Her countenance beneath her rrev hair and black bonnet is the brightest and most inspiring sight in a thoroughfare boasting the newest and some of the finest buildings in London, the capital; she radiates contentment, joy, Jesus. —“Sunday Express.”