SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8812, 27 February 1892, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

ALL'S WELL 1 [by the kev. mark guy pearse.] When lying iu my berth in the stillness of the night, thousands of miles from the nearest land, when the waves were tossing against the side of the ship, just outside, like living things impatient of their prey, I could hear the bells ring out the hour, and the strokes were repeated by the look-out man away on the bow, and were followed by a cheery cry, " All's well; lights burning bright." And then away amidships another man repeated the strokes, and back again came the cry, "All's well." It was a sweet note. It was easy then for me to turn over in my berth and to sleep on and take my rest. "All's well; lights burning bright." Child of God, why art thou troubled and disturbed? The Master watches. He that keepeth thee doth not slumber. His voice sounds on the winds— All's well. All's well. Now may our faith begin to glow, and hope to shine more brightly, and love to leap up with fresh ardour. "All's well; lights burning bright." Take it and make it a right cheery watchword. THE MISERY OF DOUBT. Of this we may be quite sure, that it is not well with us until we can speak very confidently. If passing one of the officers one night we were to ask, "Is all well?" and the reply came, " Well, I hope so," we should feel in a moment that it was not enough. We should interpret that to mean, " I am afraid not." And we should go on to ask, "Is there anything amiss?" Now, as I ask this question, "Is it well with thee?" what do you say? Vague words that are meant only to evade inquiry really mean that you do not think all is well. Yet why not? Why not? Is it not very, very foolish, a madness that is unaccountable, to go drifting on in uncertainty as to the very meaning and issues of life ? Do you think life is meant to be an incessant misgiving ? A tossing and troubled fear ? Is there no way of peace, no settled and assured rest? Is there no possibility of lying down with a deep consciousness that all is well ? Do you think it probable or even possible that God has made us great enough to look away iuto a future which we cannot read, and even do little to shape, only that we may " guess and fear ?" If God has made us men, and. greater than any other creature about us, with deeper needs and clearer sight of things, and conscious of mysteries beyond our mere earthly surroundings, is it that we should bo only tortured and tormented ? Are we fashioned iu the image and likeness of God. the very God of peace, only that we should be unlike Him, driven by pitiless unrest anil harassed by uncertainties? Is our greatness only a greater helplessness, our knowledge only a greater fear, our vision only a sight of greater ills that do affright us 1 No, indeed, we are what we are only that there may be given to us a deeper rest, a fuller peace, a sweeter and more grateful satisfaction than any other creatures can know. If God has fitted the sunshine and the dew to feed the flower of the field, and to minister to its needs, and develop its beauty, think you Heaven has no ministry for timid souls and tender hearts? Can God not come to His children and quiet them, so chat they shall learn to say, " It is well?" NOT KNOWING WHERE WE ARE. Once when the officers of the ship could not take our reckonings, and they supposed us to be off a notoriously rough headland, it was blowing a hurricane right ashore, and I asked one of the officers where we were. He said that he did not know exactly, but that they had turned the ship right out to sea. All night the captain was on the deck ; and all night the lead was being flung out and the depth taken. They knew well enough were they were within a few miles; but with the shore not far away a little distance might make an awful difference. Nothing can satisfy those in charge but to know exactly where they are. They must see the sun at noon and get an exact observation with a clear horizon. Now, will you turn this over—for to me it seems a wonderful thing—that Heaven can show men even amidst a wild waste of waters where they are? When we were off the coast of Africa, and nearing a group of islands, the captain at six o'clock said that we should pass the first at half-past eleven. I felt a little uneasy; the night was rather hazy, and I stayed on deck trying to peer through the gloom. At last from the lookout man there came a cry, " Land on the port bow," and almost immediately the bell rang out the hour. It was half-past eleven. " All's well" I said to myself as I turned in. "You can go to sleep and leave the captain to look after the ship." I have rend somewhere of one of our naval officers who sailed I from Mexico round Cape Horn to Rio, a distance of eight thousand miles, and for ninety days neither touched land nor scarcely saw a sail. At last he judged himself to be some twenty miles from Rio t and lay to for the night. The next morning it was a dense fog, and he came on very cautiously, and when the fog suddenly lifted there in front of them rose the well-known Sugar-loaf Rock at the entrance of Rio Harbour. Thus is it that in spite of the great and wide sea, where no landmarks or guide-posts are, where are restless tides and currents and changeful winds, yet Heaven stoops to teach men if they will be taught. The sun in the heavens gives every day its unerring counsel, the stars come out to whisper their cheery assurance. So He bringeth men to their desired haven. Now, if men can believe that and so believe it as to trust themselves to it, I do wouder that any can doubt that Heaven bends over us to teach us where we are and whither we are going. If it is scientific to believe that Heaven can guide us over the great sea, it does seem to be just simple common sense to think that Heaven can lead us safe through the mysteries of life and into the eternity beyond, if only we will be led. The Heavenly Father careth for His child, and cannot but come to teach and lead us home. Thank God, there is no desertion here ; we are not flung upon a lonely waste of waters without chart or compass or helm. There shines a sure light by which we can make our course. There comes a Guide and 1 Captain who knows the way, and will bring us safely to the Haven of Rest. To k now Him, to love Him, to rest in Him, is to learn i to say, " It is well." THE SECRET OF SAFETY. > By faith Noah built an ark for the salvai tion of his house. But a greater than Noah has built for us an ark, and for the salvation of the whole world. He, and He alone, knows the way through life so as assuredly to reach the heavenly goal. But, my brother, what does it matter what the Lord Jesus is or what He can do if we do not embark with 1 Him ? Ah I my brother, thinking, hearing, purposing, what does it come to ? Until you ■ really do accept the Lord Jesus Christ as i your Saviour, until you really put your trust i in Him, is it not just as if He had never come into this world—as if His great love i had never brought Him down in shame and agony to die upon the cross ? If it is to be : well with us we must embark with the Cap- ' tain of our salvation. If it is to be well with us the Captain 1 must be absolute. The Captain's will must run through the whole ship. # What is the 1 good of the captain wearing his uniform and • issuing his orders if the engineer plays with > the engines as he likes; if the man at the ■ wheel turns it or leaves it alone according to [ his own sweet will; if the boatswain's , whistle is a call with which he amuses himself, but which nobody heeds? What if the i captain is called captain, and that is all ? \ On Sunday the crew is marched before him for inspection, and then what if, having an--1 swered to their names, all should hasten > away, forgetful of his claims and of their ) I service ? That ship shall fare badly indeed I

Is not this the cause of unrest many? The Captain is not ahsolutc »T ery is no deep, whole-hearted utt<»r ' here of yourself to Him. Relirion fc a nder Sunday inspection, a going throuch ! f" 8 of appearance in the Captain's present.F* l ourselves, our own way and our " then for another week. Be sure 0 f this a V ill only We , en our Saviour is SU n) Ca « At the root of all unrest there lies som of imperfect obedience, seme flaw in ® bl * service To be His wholly, u t t * r i v \°? r His, is the secret of rest. utle ny, only T , . SPECIAL bisks. II a man is going on a voyage that i. not been before he studies the c chath ar t > fully, and if it , a a dangerous coast the chart shows there have been * re .wrecks he must keep all the greater „ .? an y marking the headlands and distil?*' the lights. Ah! young people who lf f come up to tins great city, alas! X£ a many have been wrecked, and whir L So current runs so strongly, I »rav vn„ , , th « to the Captain. Have a new faith and obey Him more fully than ever', i Study the chart, keep the lead goino « ' the depth. Keep out of danger B, P° Un ' ] your guard. We had to fly the yellows oo because we had touched at an infers . ? We on board were all right, but wr. rt touched at Rio, where some epidemic always raging, and it compelled u a tr V " claim to the next port that it was ~J I' 1 " 1 ?," with us. There lay the slopes and ll'L 1 of fair Teneriffc, but we had to J tumble all day amidst the dust of coil ""1 at the masthead flew the signal; IW» ( contact and communication with evil Tu foul jest, the suggested sin, have left ! soul contaminated and condemned • away from the evil; steer clear of it if ' would have it always well with you 1-2 011 sharp look-out against old failing ' 4 " All's well." Ring out the eheerv irm.' Lights burning bright." Gladden other.' with the blessed assurance. All's well • • it, look it, feci it, sing it. All's well' An' well I On dark nights as well as bright ' 8 stormy times as well as calm. All's well" sing it right boldly, since He is ours and are His, whom He hath redeemed with Hi precious blood. We know whither we » ! journeying, and though we do not know what the way will be like, we do know u. ,! the end will be. And we know tbtev . step is ordered by His perfect love anil wisdom. Come, then, my brother, be eheerv gladden thyself and look about thee uiri, ,i ' cry, " All's well! All's well!" Look o 'f look up. Let the lights burn brightly i ov * high up in the mast, and faith and hope on either side; and, as the hours pass, riii -i! and sing it, All's well 1 All's well 1 °

APPROPRIATE THE PROMISES.

We do with the promise often .115 a poor old couple did with a precious document which might have cheered their old age had th«? used it according to its real value. A gentleman stepping into a poor woman's house saw framed and glazed upon the wall a French note for a thousand francs. He said to the old folks, " How came yon by this ?" They informed him that a poor French soldier had been taken in by them and nursed until he died, and he had (riven them that little picture when he was dying as a memorial of him. They thought it such a pretty souvenir that they had framed it and there it was adorning the cottage wall ' They were greatly surprised when they were told that it was worth a sum which would be quite a little fortune for them if they would but turn it into money. Are we not equally unpractical with far more precious things? Have you not certain of ths words of your great Lord framed and glazed in your hearts, and do you not say to yourselves, They are so sweet and precious," and yet you have never turned them into actual blessing—never used them in the hour of need? You have done as Martha did when she took the words, " Thy brothei shall rise again," and put round about their this handsome frame: "In the resurrection at the last day." Oh ! that we had grace to turn God's bullion of Gospel into current coin, and use it as our present spending money. It is our own fault that we are poor and miserable, for, if we would but exercise an appropriating faith, we might possess a boundless heritage. "According unto vour faith be it unto you." O.HiS,

FRET NOT.

Psa. xxxvii., 1, 7, 8. "What is Fretting V 'Tis a canker Eating into wholesome good, "ris a leprosy which creepeth Stealthily into the blood. Oh how many souls are troubled With the weight of anxious care, When they might the weary burden, Cast upon the Lord in prayer. "Fretting" is a want of trusting, 'Tis the sin of unbelief, Which, instead of looking upward, Turns within upon its grief. " Fretting" is the self with\u Rising up from hour to hour, Which, like blight or blast upon it, Spoils the beauty of the flower. " Fret not 1" said the Psalmist David, For the Lord " wait patiently " Hold thee still!" and in His own time God's salvation thou shalt see. For behind each cloud of trial There is always hidden light, And, though now thine eyes are holden, They shall see its glory bright. Oh ! to take God's will so truly In each trifle of the day, That, instead of vain pining, We should cheerfully obey. This the secret of true blessing, This alone can give us peace, When our will is gladly yielded Discord, jar, and fret shall cease. Annie m. Potter.