DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7168, 15 March 1930, Page 15

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Precept. Wait for His Son from heaven. 1 Tlie-ss. 1, 10. Promise. I will come again, and receive you unto Myself. John 14, 3. Prayer. O Lord, make no tarrying. Psalm 70, 5. THE MIRROR. " Reflecting as a mirror the glory of God.” A bit of broken glass had caught the light, made the eastern sky a sea of flame, And he who saw it turned about t.o learn Whence all the splendour came. So, if a life that else were dull and drear Glowed with the glory of a lighted face, What marvel if men turned, to praise anew The wonder of God’s grace. Lord, wilt Thou make a mirroT of my life, And let it ever show Thy radiance bright, That dwellers in the dark may catch the gleam, And turn to see Thy light. Prank J. Exley. 1 1 Let us reflect Him, then whatever we do At homo or college, keep us sweet and true, May those who see the most of us each day, Recognise Christ in all we do or say.” A young girl was once asked: ‘‘What sermon led you to Jesus Christ?’ It wasn’t, anybody’s preaching,” she replied, "it was Aunt Mary’s practising.” THE SOUL’S AWAKENING.

It was by a strange vision that Augustine was converted to Christ. He had been brought up in a Christian home but was swept away from his moorings into unbelief. He had wholly forsaken the Gospel and, after grazing in many strange pastures, called himself a Neoplatonist. But still he was unsatisfied. Ho could not escape from his mother’s prayers or cut wholly loose from tho grace of God. In the summer of the year 39, as he was walking in a garden at Milan, he gs w an open Bible on a rustic seat,

and a voice said, "Take and read.” As he paused his eye fell upon these words "It is high time to awake out of sleep. ’ ’ He read on, and trembled; for at that time he was living a life of gross sen-s-uaJity. "Let us walk honestly, as in the day,” he read, "and not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wamtonness, not in strife and envying.” In a moment his life passed before him. A voice seemed to call: "Put ye cn the Lord Jesus Christ!” The words rang in his ears. They haunted him In the watches of the night. They brought him back to God. THE THREE CROSSES ON CAVALRY. Surely, the supremo symbol of Christianity Should not bo one cross, but two or even three. Our message is not adequately expressed by saying Christ crucified; our message is Christ crucified by us and with us —Christ,, God with us iu the midst of sin and all its consequences. It is the thought of those three Crosses which clears my vision and gives mo hope. Herbert H. Parmer. CHANGED CONDITIONS IN CHINA. By H. S. Clic. The journey) was a real encouragement to us, returning as we were to face the changed conditions of the new China. It seemed to us that wo had never known, such genuine friendliness as was shown to us on all sides by the Chinese passengers. Wc spoke to all kinds of people sitting in a kind of public coach provided with lounge chairs. One man had been a cotton manufacturer in Tientsin, and had been called by the new Government, to 1 a position in one of the administradvc bureaux. Ho spoke perfect English, and sat reading tho “Life of Henry Ford.” One or two others were students returned from studies abroad. These and others all were extremely friendly, kind and polite. Perhaps the presence of our children was a help, for the Chinese delighted in their frolics and games. One young student was sitting them on his knees to help them look through the window at passing things.

"For my darkness, Jesus’ Light; For my feebleness, His Might. For my faultiness, His Grace; For'earth’s frowns, His Smiling Face For my doubts, the Truth of God; For my sins, Christ’s Precious Blood; For my pains, His Pity’s Dower; For my falls, His Raising Power.”