Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LIX, Issue 7486, 9 June 1934, Page 11

Devotional Column

Precept. Give, and it shall be given unto you. | • Luke 6.38. I Promise. Good measure, pressed down, and ij shaken together, and running over, jj shall men give into your bosom. i, Luke 6.38. ) Prayer. 5 Give mo understanding, that I learn Thy commandments. Ps. 119.73. if EXCELLENCY OF THE BIBLE. g The Bible is a rock of diamonds, 9 a chain of pearls, the sword of the | Spirit; a chart by which the Christian 5 sails to eternity; tho map by. which | ho daily walks; the sun-dial by which § ho sets his life; the balance in which | he woighs his actions. —T. Watson. ? ■ V; SAND AND ROCK. (By Amos E. Wells.) I built my house upon the sand; lithe shining sand of earthly fame; the | shifting sand of men’s acclaim; the U glittering, worthless sand of gold, the f quicksand of ambitions bold, the sands | of pleasure swift to run, tho sands S of beauty in the sun, the lazy sands | of slothful case, the singing sands I that idly please, the ground by sum- if mer breezes fanned —I built my | house upon the sand. The house I | built came tumbling down: for stead- | ilv the autumn ra.in deluged the hills I, and swept the plain; and terribly tho p winter flood assailed my dwelling where |: it. stood; and as the heavens were a f‘ flail, fiercer and fiercer blew the gale, | the sands became a liquid. ma3S, my gj plot of ground a wild morass, and iu I; a torrent rtirong to drown, the house | I built came tumbling down. I built I my house upon the rock: tho rock of || God’s all-wise decree, tho rock of | love’s imperial plea; the rock of truth ft immutable, the rock of faith’s firm | citadel; the rock of glad obedience, | the rock of God’s own providence; [ the rock of hopes that nevor die, if p promises that glorify, God’s rock that ? stands the final shock, I built my k house upon the rock. The house 1 built b is standing still: it meets the torn- k pest’s buffeting, and all the blots that storm clouds fling; on strong foundalions of tho right, it fronts all terrors of the night; with beams that never !;.; shake nor sway, it holds the joyancc of the day; winter and summer, spring jj! and fall, it takes tho temper of them j. all; firm-founded on the Father’s w.'JJ, jf the house I built is standing still. | THE TRINITY. Father Son and Holy Spirit! AVhflt | the Father purposes the Son performs jg and tho Holy Spirit perpetuates. What | the Father purposed in eternity, tho k Son executes in timo and the Holy | Spirit perpetuates for all time. Under | tho administration of tho Father. Son and Holy Spirit everything is working | after the will of the eternal Godhead 1 | Tho Son came out from the Father t? and the Spirit, came out from tho | Father and Son. They are One. God | In throe persons —“blessed Trinity.” g The Holy Spirit is now in the world | because Christ is in Heavon, Tke j| Holy Spirit is bore and Christ is thore, if and wo behold tho spectacle of an || “opon Heaven.” You can no more overthrow tho '/. Bible and true Christianity than you ! can overthrow or overcomo the Father, Sou and Holy Ghost! Tho Gospel, the fe Bible and Christianity belong to the V Father, tho Son and the Holy Spirit! p It is their programme, they are rhe produeors and promoters. “Salvation a is of the Lord.” Man can do nothing [(: to repeal it or refute it. FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL. Wanted: A man with tears and |! triumph! What hath God wrought! | Many years ago an old man might | have beon seen walking the streets p of Gloucester leaning upon tho arm of a younger friend. As they reach- | ed a certain place, “Stop,” said the | aged man; and, so saying, he stood, | uucovorcd his white head, and passed | somo moments in silent prayer. That | place was the site of the first Sunday | School; that venerable man was Ro- | bert Raikes, its founder. The tears | rolled thick and fast down his cheeks | as ho said to his companion, “This is p the spot on which I saw the destitu- | tion of the children and the dcsce:a- 1 tion of the Lord’s Day, and first ask- | cd, “Can nothing be done?” A. voice answered, ‘Try.’ I did try; and see | what God hath wrought?” j,