THE EXODUS: ITS RELIGIOUS ASPECTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8670, 12 September 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EXODUS: ITS RELIGIOUS ASPECTS.

The following are some portions of a discourse delivered in the Beresford-street Congregational Church, on Sunday last, by the Rev. James Chew, the the text being :—

Woe is mo, that I sojourn in Maseeh, that I d well ill the tents of Keilar.—l'salui, exx., f>.

The frequent departure of many good citizens from our shores, with the intention of taking up their residence permanently in other lands, will not be deemed by all hearers an appropriate subject for meditation in a phice of worship on the Lord's day. But, objectors may modify their opinion when informed of the allegations that one indirect cause of the deplored exodus, and of some other public calamities, is the persistent exclusion of such matters from pulpit discourse. Almost all Christian ministers have always taught that the great business of life is to prepare for death ; that our chief, yea, sole concern in time is to fit ourselves for eternity ; and that he is the best man who so contemplates the future state as to lose sight of this present evil world. And the people lovo to have it so. Quite a majority of believers believe they possess spirituality and heavenlymindedness in precisely the degree in which they become indifferent to their mundane surroundings and the material belongings of their friends, relatives, and acquaintances generally. The result of this " otherworldliiiess " has been that municipal, provincial, national, and national affairs have drifted into the hands of any who were willing to take charge of them, or wishful to administer them "for selfish and sinister purposes. Instead of being closely watched and conscientiously guided by the wisest and best, the secular interests of mankind have been heedlessly, sometimes deliberately, left to irreligious, ambitious, unscrupulous men. Of course all good and wise folk are not classed among professors of religion. There are some outside our churches a good deal better than a few inside, but the ratio within is greater, and on that account it is the more surprising that they who are otherwise the "excellent of the earth" should have contented themselves with such unanimity to dabble in mere streamlets of influence that have strayed in winding channels beneath sequestered shades, while the broad navigable rivers of power and commerce have been relinquished to self-seekers, adventurers, audacious usurpers. Can you wonder that the whole world lieth in /wickedness still 1 The prevalence of such egregious mistakes throughout Christendom largely accounts for class legislation, for unequal and oppressive taxation, for religioustlisabili ties, for temporising and unprincipled politics, for the extreme disparities and consequent bitter animosities between the high and low, for alienations, contentions, insurrections, and, in periods of prosperity, for corruptions through which the ungodly prosper in the world and increase in riches. "Therefore pride compasseth them about as with a chain ; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness ; they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression ; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore His people return hither, and waters of a full (nip are wrung out to them."

Mew Zealand, which has been 110 exception in some of these things, young though her history be, is at present suffering from a complication of ailments, which are all but universally attributed to mismanagement as pitiable as culpable: the maladministration of resources, the misgoverntncnb of would- be settlers. But what many view as the most alarming is the spectacle of its inhabitants being driven abroad, nob a few of them the very flower of tho population, and in such numbers that.the question how to check the emigration has become a very serious and urgent problem indeedin fact an imperative religious duty. The wide-spread, long-continued exodus is not only making the poor poorer, and at a time when their poverty will be harder to bear because of the diminishing number 011 whom fall fiscal burdens that must ultimately be borne by all. It is also impoverishing, by depreciation of property, those who were well-to-do among whhin are orphans and widows, aged and infirm veterans that did the " roughing it" in these rugged ranges, among fierce, suspicious, warlike -Maoris. It is breaking up homes that will never bo re-united ; paralysing trade more than ever, restraining patriotic enterprise, crippling benevolent institutions such as evangelical and missionary organisations. It is diffusing uncertainty, anxiety, timidity, everywhere, even in hearts usually sanguine and hopeful enough, bub which can no longer help asking: " What next, and next? Whose turn to go under will it be tomorrow ? is there 110 turning to this dark, long lane?" And now that the time'of the singing of birds is come, the voice of the mourner is heard in our land. Chronic croakers are in their element, like foul frogs ' in a dismal swamp at the gloaming, or hoarse owls amid haunted ruins 011 a hideous night. One of these with harsh voice croaked in my hearing the words of the text: " Woe is me, that. I sojourn in Mcsech, that I dwell in the tents of Kcdar." He seemed entirely ignorant that the plaint of the Psalmist applied not to the place of his sojourn, but to the people dwelling . there. Mot much is known of Mesech or Ivedar, but what little is recorded favours the belief that the region indicated was by 110 means a scene of barrenness or desolation, bub that its ground brought forth sufficiently, that its denizens were opulent and powerful, and that, therefore, if anything were wrong there the fault lay nob with it, bub with them. When I "recited some of the verses of the context in support of this interpretation, the owl replied : —"But—is there not a cause? When so many good people are shaking the dust) of our coast off their feet, and there remains so much complaining in our streets, must there not) be something rotten in the state of Denmark, if all the foundations of the earth are not out of course?" As a rejoinder I stated, what may be worth repeating and expanding here this morning, that when anything goes wrong with individuals, households, tribes, or nations, it is equally Christian and philosophical to reflect on how much there is that is right; and that it is as sensible as virtuous to inquire how the wrong may be righted. If it be ostrich-like to bury our heads in the sand from pursuing evil, ib is eagle-like to seek tho good by facing the light, and by soaring sunward, heavenward, Godward. I am certain it is not the physical conditions surrounding us in this genial clime that need cause any such lamentation as that before us. A bright sun we have; a clear sky, pure atmosphere, beautiful scenery, productive soil; also bracing breezes, abundant streams, rich aud varied provisions on the surface of the ground, vast mineral treasures underneath ; likewise harvests of the sea for every season in the—not "melancholy but —merciful ocean that holds our Islands in. its caressing embrace, while interposing a wide expanse between us and foes, who, if nearer, might become envious and troublesome. But none of these advantages, nor all of them combined, will avail much if those who inherit them do not adapt and otherwise exert themselves to make the most of their mercies.' A salubrious- climate often enervates, and the prodigality of nature tempts to indolence and indulgence. Strangers who drive through our lanes and suburbs comment on the neglected appearance of small and large allotments, and credible witnesses assert that they know householders in the country who buy their vegetables in town. Tho same authority which says, "Thou shalb nob muzzle the ox that treadeth out the. corn," also ordains that he that will not . work shall not eat. In providing such a splendid territory for the New Zealanders, the Almighty said to them;. "See, my children, here is a home for you, and a fine estate with it, in which is everything that is pleasant to the eye and good for food ; help yourselves and one another, by making the best of ib all." Help themselves and each other they must, in order to make tho best of it. Ho will not nurse grown children—men and womenas mothers suckle babes and birds feed fledglings. When He showered manna in the desert,

He commanded Israel to* gather it; and when He gave a garden to our first parents, Re required them to cultivate it. Adam and Eve might have starved in paradise if they had been as easy and lazy, as shiftless aud thriftless as some of their descendants. " The Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it, and to keep it." But man liveth not by bread alone, and thank God, the intellectual conditions that environ us furnish 110 more cause than do the physical for this bewailing: " Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech and Kedar." It used to be remarked in England that there were two classes in particular who emigrated thence ; one, the bad, who, willingly or unwillingly, left their country for their country's good ; second, the brave, those of more than average virtue and valour, \who had sense, spirit and resolution, sufficient to risk much by going far to better their fortunes and families ; and the further they had to go the more sensible and courageous and energetic they needed to be. New Zealand received a fair share of these, and their offspring may be expected to rank well intellectually. It will not be disputed that our people havo moderate intelligence to begin with ; and wealth, science, and enterprise co-operate to enhance such intelligence here at the ends of the earth. Every morning we can read at breakfast what occurred yesterday on the other side pf the globe. The daily press in the colonies, of which our local papers are fair samples, was recently pronounced worthy of any nation, by a competent judge. Magazines and reviews, as well as dailies, come to us in swarms from all points- of the compass. Public libraries we have, equal to the requirements of any intellectual, commercial or professional career. Excellent schools enable the young to utilise their opportunities in literature, science, and art. If anything, there is too much schooling, or, rather, it is defective through misdirection, the technical and practical giving place too much to the theoretical. They who regret the cost, do not consider the education itself excessive, but argue that at certain stages it is not the most suitable or useful, cither to the taught or the State. The State which pays so much for it ought to profit by it and more benefit might accrue if, with just) as much general knowledge as is absolutely necessary, there were instruction given in trades, manufactures, agriculture, and the like, which should qualify our embryo citizens for the culture, the developing and enrichment of the country itself. Technical instruction is felt to be indispensable in the Board schools at " home" in self-defence against countries which have long been outstripping and underselling the United Kingdom in most productions that require special skill and taste, experience and judgment. If the motto is to be, "New Zealand for New Zealanders," then must New Zealanders make Isew Zealand ■independent by such superiority that 110 outsiders can offer greater attractions. You best patronise local industries by training the industrial workers to so excel as to defy competition. [Mr. Chew then referred to the social conditions and the ecclesiastical conditions of New Zealand]. The political conditions that are pressing upon us, and are forcing reluctant departures from among us. No great searchings of heart does the exodus appear to be causing in Wellington. Oh, no'; Cabinet Ministers and members of the House of Representatives are too much occupied in increasing their stipends ; in trifling with female suffrage ; in disputing about technicalities ; in insinuating charges of corruption, and refusing the accused an opportunity of self-vindication ; in virtually expelling, on a mere point of order, the only man among them, so far as my reading goes, who has gained for himself the good degree : which is commonly conferred on him by the prefixing of the term " Honest" to his name, as the title most befitting him ; the proud distinction which the poet had in mind when lie wrote : "An honest man's the noblest work of God." With such .stupendous measures on hand, how could honourable gentlemen stoop to such a triviality as the decimation of the population ? Fiddling while Rome burns, they do well to select the liveliest airs, as they who play wedding marches at funerals. But who will pay the piper ? Who has bought the musical instruments ? Who has placed the performers on a platform so high that they overlook impending disaster while so cheerily diverting themselves ? It is in great measure * the doing of the lethargic, apathetic, erroneously spiritualistic saint, who lias gone up in a balloon instead of minding his business on terra, firnia, living among stars when he should be labouring in the streets, too much at ease in Zion to trouble himself concerning Mesech or the tents of Kedar. It is you, it is we, it is ill Christians who have been too heavenly to care for the earthly, too sacred to touch the secular, too pious to be political, too good to stem evil lest we be stained by it, ! 0, what folly, what puerility and inconsistency, it is ! Was it not enjoined that wo render unto Ctesar the thing that are Cajsar's, as well as unto God the things that are God's? If all who name the name of Christ would preach and practice as much as they pray for, the righteousness that exalteth nations in all the bearings of that divine commandment which is " exceedingly broad," then indeed would God, even our own God, bless us by glorious events that would verify the Scripture which declares, "Ho poureth contempt upon princes, and causetii them to wander in a solitary way. Yet setteth Ho tho poor on high from affliction, and maketh them families like a Hock. The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth." And so would another mouth be stopped—that of the habitual or occasional grumbler, who, justly or unjustly, had long been bemoaning himself thus : " Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech; that I dwell in the tents of Kedar." Or, if his voice were not silenced, it would change its tune to some such song as this : " Lord, thou hadsb been favourable unto Thy land ; Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people, Thou hast covered all their sin. . . . Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven ; yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase."

A famous bishop on being asked what was the difference between orthodoxy and heterodoxy replied: "Orthodoxy, my lord, is my doxy, heterodoxy is another man's doxy." So it is all through life : we all fancy we at each individually correct in our opinions. The Roman Catholics tell the Protestants they are certain of everlasting damnation. The Protestant tells the Catholic that he is on the direct road to hell, and so one sect has no good word for another, consequently, no matter how good our lives, we are all going to have everlasting misery and frizzling after this "life's fitful fever" is past. Jealousy is the most prominent feature of man's nature ; for instance, Count Mattei has undoubtedly cured cases of pronounced cancer with his wonderful discovery. The doctors cry aloud " he is a quack," and will not investigate his treatment or acknowledge the powers of his remedy. We want to know is there a single medical man in the profession who would not prefer to be cured by a quack than die through the prejudices of the faculty? These prejudices so retard the advances of true science that mankind has no alternative but to have recourse to some reliable standard article, and, so far, Clements Tonic has proved itself the most effective remedy extant. The marvellous cures effected ill cases of Liver and Kidney Disease, Neuralgia, Dropsy, Dyspepsia, and General Nervous Debility, are of so astounding a character that 110 remedy can compare to it for merit. Clements Tonic is really and honestly a genuine article, and the patronage bestowed upon it prove it worth its weight in diamonds. Thos. E. Pyman, Esq., Public School, Rothbury, _ N.S.W., writes:—"l have great pleasure in adding my testimony to the efficacy of Clements Tonic. During the latter portion of last year and the beginning of this I suffered from severe pains in the head, due to close application to study. I lost flesh rapidly, and my whole nervous system was upset. I tried several treatments in vain, but after using Clements Tonic the effect was wonderful; after taking a six weeks' course I was completely cured, gained a stone in weight and never felt better in my life. To students and others who at times become brain weary, Clements Tonic is worth its weight in gold." Insist on the genuine Clements Tonic; it is sold everywhere. Laboratories, Sydney, N.S.W.

Tonics.Many so-called tonics utterly fail to impart renewed vitality to the weak. The Genuine American Hop Bitters, made by Dr. Soule, never fails to do good, 6