DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 12 June 1926, Page 6

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

PRAYER. Almighty God, Maker‘of heaven and earth, Giver of light and life, so teach us those things which belong to the heavenly kingdom, and those duties which arc of the earth, and we, stirred by the light and life of the peace of God, may be enabled faithfully to do the things committed -to us, looking ever unto Thee for light and life, that, being lifted above ourselves, the life of God in the soul of man may be ours, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, may then keep our hearts and minds, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. READING. The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered itr—Job 38:29. A HAPPY THOUGHT. “Jf he shall not lose his reward who gives a cup of cold water to.bis thirsty neighbour, what will not be the reward of those who. by putting good books into the hands of those neighbours, open to them the fountains of eternal life.”—Thomas a Kempis. DOES THE' CHURCH MEAN BUSINESS f(Rev. J. Robertson, 8.A.) Viewed as a business concern the Church gives much ground for believing that she is not in earnest concerning her work, Theoretically she is responsible for running the biggest and most vital business on this planet. Practically she j does not impress the world with the magnitude of her task. Take a glance at her material equipment. A large number of Christians condemn the picture and other theatres. No one can, however, deny that the appointments of any modern place of amusement are far in advance of any church appointments in the Commonwealth. Many church members spend considerable sums every week in various houses of entertainment. They appreciate, and pay liberally for, artistic surroundings in places of amusement and in their own homes. They are mostly content to worship in buildings which are drab, if not often actually untidy. Most of our church and Sunday school buildings are unattractive and lacking in hygienic conditions. There is an absence of effective architecture without, and of artistic decoration within. “Neatness,”. said Fenelon, “when it is moderate, is a virtue.” SOMETHING OUT OF PLUMB. There is something out of plumb in a religion which builds beautiful homes to house a man in, and a barn to worship God in. This should not be. Every business man knows the effect of well-appointed offices. It is helpful to staff and to client. An atmosphere of comfort and refinement helps to make business easier to secure. The shopkeeper aims at attraction. If his favourite cat is seen walking over a mould of butter in full view of the public, he need have no surprise if they pass his shop by. Nor need the church wonder if the public is not impressed favourably by her unkempt grounds and her unkept buildings. One of the most important features of pastoral work is visitation of the homes of the people. The Church endorses this as a necessary activity. And yet few churches make any provision for transport. No traveller is being used to best advantage by his firm who spends the bulk of his time walking about, or sitting in trams and trains. Rapid transit is recognised as a moneysaver. The Church has yet to realise that increased capacity to visit means increased congregations. It is not a matter of sentiment, but is a pure business proposition. THE CHURCH MUST LOOK FOR BUSINESS. In the matter of advertising the Church has a great deal to learn. The present effort in this direction is almost negligible. The weekly advertisements in the press are arranged in such a way that only those who habitually look for them are reached. There is no unexpected catching of the eye of the passer-by. Surely advertising that does not come under the notice of a new customer is hardly worth the cost. There are many public hoardings in the city in which I. live. There is not one church advertisement on them. Various commodities from numberless firms, but the Church does not advertise. Perusing a tourist guide, one finds hotel advertisements placed therein because the hotelkeeper knows tourists must lodge somewhere. Why do not our churches realise that the tourist must worship somewhere, and remind him of the fact in the advertising spacer If the Church is in earnest

she must look for business.—The Baptist. IN QUIET RESTING PLACES. (By Dr J. C. Carlile, Folkestone.) “In quiet resting places.”—lsaiah xxxii. 18. The words occur in one of the predictions of the restoration of Jerusalem, when the land should be secure and the people righteous. The promise was made in a time of invasion. The value of peace is rarely realised until we suffer by war. Rest and quiet are prized when they have become impossible. Would it be pressing language rather too far to say that quiet and silence instead of being synonyms refer to different spheres r Silence is the absence of sound. Quiet is the harmonious repose of spirit. Silence is something without. Quiet belongs to the interior life. Quiet is not entirely dependent upon surroundings. Airmen say there are pockets of still air in which they suddenly find themselves in dead silence. There is no rush of air current, no sound of movement, but one may be anything but quiet even in a pocket of still'air. In tho stillness of night in the silent house Lady Macbeth heard the tumult of accusing voices.

The resting places are marked upon the map. They are very lovely and far from the hustling crowd, and if it were possible to leave ourselves behind they would be quiet enough. But wherever we go we carry our personality, our joys and sorrows, our doubts and fears, so that in this age of rush and noise it is more difficult than ever to get away from ourselves.

Ruskin advised his students to build nests of plensant thoughts. The quiet resting places are within the soul. Not place, but possession is the essential. The prophet declared that they would find their hearts’ desire in the practice of righteousness and the possession of the Spirit. It is impossible to rest in the Lord while one lives in disobedience. Conscience not only makes cowards of us all but destroys the harmony of soul.

There are some quiet resting places very near. We may withdraw from the tumult and the rush of things and find rest in calm serenity undisturbed. Surely we may all rest in the assurance of the love of God. The open secret of repose which brings refreshment and strength is that the One who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords not only is all-wise and all-powerful, but is our Father. He loves us with an everlasting love, a love that is deeper than our deepest need, stronger than our most compelling temptation. - To realise that God not only so loved the world but that He loved me is to find the quiet resting place beside the still waters and the green pastures. Once the soul enters into the assurance of the love of God there is rest—rest for the conscience in the Divine forgiveness, rest for the heart in the knowledge that He knows and cares, rest for all the future, for our times are in His hand.

The hall-mark of the saints lias been their consciousness of the Divine love. They were so filled with it that they could pa’ss through the fire without smell of burning remaining upon their garments. They could endure the unendurable and triumph over the impossible. All the men of the mystic way have been rich beyond the dreams of millionaires, but their chief characteristic was calm repose in the face of difficulty, their unruffled harmony of spirit even when confronting death. And this they owed to the deep-down assurance that God loved them. Everything else was involved in that. They knew that all things worked together for good for they belonged to God. Happy are those who know the quiet resting place in the consciousness of Christ’s presence. That great Hindoo mystic poet Tagore wrote an explanatory statement of what Christ was to him. He saw the Lord from his own point of view, a point of view almost impossible to the Western mind. He says: “Jesus lay on *mv heart as a strange human, kindred love, as : a repose.” Not without reason do the Evangelicals sing:— “Safe in the arms of Jesus.”

All through the Christian centuries men and women sore pressed by the burden and heat of the day have found rest for their weary spirits in the consciousness that the Lord was with them. They shared in a fuller degree tho realisation expressed by the Psalmist, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” Where Christ is recognised and trusted there is the gift of rest. Did He not say: “Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” In our troubled and turbulent days men and women are exploring every avenue to find the quiet resting places. They scour the earth and explore the sea, and yet are restless still. The essential value of'Christ for our time is that He supplies not only leadership for life, but rest for the stormtossed spirit.—British Weekly.