SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9491, 21 April 1894, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

"LORD, HELP ME." Mr. Moody, on one occasion, told hundreds of messenger boys who came t>> hear him in New York, that he thought he had said the little prayer, " .Lord, help me," a million times in his life. Many of the inhabitants of Manchester and the surrounding towns will remember a singular old minister, with a round, red, pleasant looking face, a bald head, who often preached in a velvet skull-cap. He was a man of very peculiar views, but powerful in his description of Christian experience. He once preached in Rochdale from the text, "Lord, help me." Having read his text, he took off his spectacles, and in his usual deliberate way, looked round on the congregation, saying : — "Friends, by way of introduction, I will tell you how 1 got this text; aud if you will allow me to speak in the first person, I can tell you easier by saying I, than he. " Well, then, before I was wholly devoted to the ministry, I was in business, and, as most business men do, 1 worked a little on credit. When I gave up business, and settled as a preacher and pastor of a congregation, I was owing several sums of money ; but much more was owing to me, so that I had no fear of being unable to pay my creditors. One of these creditors, to whom I owed twenty pounds, called upon me for payment. I said to him, 'I will see what I can do for you next Monday.' He called on the Monday, but I had not got the money. He was rather cross with me, saying I .had no business to promise except I intended to per- j form. This observation roused me, and I told him that I would pay him on the coining j Monday. He went away in a rage, saying he hoped I would. " I set out on the following day to see some of my debtors, not fearing but, that I could raise the twenty pounds; but I did not get one farthing. I tried others, but with the same result. I then put down on a sheet of paper the names of several of my friends, certain that I could borrow twenty pounds from anyone of them. But to my utter amazement I was mistaken. All of them could sympathise with me a deal better than lend me anything! " The next day I made out another list of names of those not so well able to help me as the former, for I thought, if X can get five pounds here, and five pounds there, I shall be able to raise it all. I travelled many miles on my errand, spending a whole day; but returned in the evening without one penny. I began to ask myself, How is this that I, a respectable man, and, as some people say, a popular preacher, cannot, in the whole of my acquaintance, borrow twenty pounds! I thought I had as many friends as most men, but now 1 cannot find one that will trust me with twenty pounds. My pride got a terrible shake, and 1 felt very little indeed. " Friday came, and my spirits were sinking, I could not tell which way to turn. I had promised to pay, and was very anxious to fulfil my promise, for good reasons; my honour ana veracity as a minister of the Gospel were at stake. X feared that if I did not pay the man, he would send the bailiff's ; and for a parson to have the bailiffs would be a terrible disgrace, i read the seventy-third Psalm that morning at family worship, for I thought it was nearest my case—the mournful portions of God's Word best agreeing with the feelings of God's mournful people. I began to look out texts for the Sunday, but 1 could find none, for I could think of nothing but twenty pounds. I tried to read, but it was no use ; the twenty pounds covered all the letters. Twenty pounds seemed written on everything—on the ceiling, on the walls, in the fire, on my dinner-plates, on the faces of my wife and children—and the whole of that day was a day of depression of spirits. I was really miserable. " Saturday morning came, and I rose from a sleepless bed. I ate very little breakfast; and when at prayer I was so overcome with my feelings, that my wife asked me if I was poorly, or in trouble. 'Yes,'l replied,'l am in trouble enoughand then I told her all about the cause of my sorrow. She was silent for a few minutes, and then said,' You have often talked and preached about the power of faith, I think you will now need some yourself.' She was evidently mortified because I had been refused the money by those she had called our friends. My wife is a good Christian woman, but she thinks works are the best evidence of faith, both in preacher and people. "Saturday was spent much as Friday had been. I was in a state of torpor until evening. 1 then, with a heavy heart, went upstairs into a little room I called my study; for X had three times to preach on the Sunday, and no text, twenty pounds to pay on Monday, and no money. What was I to do ? " For a long time I sat with my face buried | in my hands, and then I fell on my knees, ! and I believe I said, ' Lord, help me,' a hundred times, for I could say nothing but, 'Lord, help me; Lord, help me.' While praying I felt an impression that these words might serve me for one text, and, as Sunday came before Monday, I began to prepare, as well as I could, for the Sunday work; but no other text could I think of but, ' Lord, help me. " While preaching on the Suuday morning, I had so many thoughts and illustrations arising out of the subject, that I felt great liberty in preaching. One of my illustrations was about a. man I well knew, who was a deacon of a church, and had been an executor for two orphan children. He was tempted to make use of the money, and much of it was lost. This so preyed upon his mind that he began to drink. He lost his character, lost his peace of mind, and died with the reputation of a rogue. 'Now,' I said, 'had this man, the executor, when he first thought of taking the children's money, resisted the temptation by calling on God to help hiin— help him to be honest, help him to do nothing but what a professing Christian ought to' do —instead of losing the money, his good name, his peace of mind, and perhaps his life, God would have heard his prayer, and saved him.' " Noon came; but my sermon was not half done, I preached from it again in the afternoon, and again in the evening; and I £elt I could have preached from it a week. So you see the Lord helped me through my work on the Sunday ; and I believed he would, some way, help me through the Monday. After finishing the night's service, when I got to the bottom of the_ pulpit stairs, & young man stood there, with his hat in his hand, wishing to see me ill private. I took him into the vestry, and requested his errand, expecting it would be something about his soul. For several minutes we were both silent, but at length he said; i

« ;y o, i k rj m . y mothe r.MrrGSb7T S I looked him m the fae* . ,7 ? I did; but I did not know you Itfir' * ?r i® ljr "'Well, sir, when she died «h?kfc ght ' some money—in fact, all she had e'cSV™ small sums she wished me to eiv • n Ji Wo cf five pounds to a poor woman SUfn quaintance; and speaking of V ou .h" -5" 'Our minister needs help, and I wUh Ba,d » give him twenty pounds.' I paid th?"*? 40 pounds to the old woman; but tW • fiva one knew I resolved never to give 2 8 .! 0 twenty.. But while you were talk!,,™ u 0 fcSBSUTSSi JR JSttaT® "It was now my turn to Via j struck. I was amazed ; and while the vn*?"' man was putting the twenty sovereigns iJ,? 8 my hand, I trembled all over. God h i heard my prayer ! He had helped me through the Sunday, and sent me twenty pounds for the Monday ! It was mine and I took it f °f shook the young man by the hand, and with out putting the money into my pocket i went quickly home and spread it out on the table before my wife, saying, 'Here it j ! here it is ! I now see how i t was that I could not borrow the money. God knew where it was, and He has sent me the twenty pound and delivered me out of my trouble Hp h heard my prayer, and helped me, and Turn trust Him and praise Him as long as I live > .r Oh L I ? y friends, when that little prayer Lord, help me, comes from the heart of one of God children in distress, neither men devils, noi angels can tell its power It h, brought me thousands of blessings beside the twenty pounds." CROOKED PLACES MADE STRAIGHT. While out in China serving the Lord amongst the many difficulties and perplexi ties of work in a heathen land I received a text-card from two dear friends, beloved and honoured for half a century's faithful service in several quarters of the globe. The card bore their signatures and those of their household, and has been much prized and treasured for their sakes. But the messa-e it brought was far more precious -a word of cheer from the Master Himself : "Iwilleo before thee, and make the crooked places straightand that word has been a feast to my soul and a pillow for my head ever since and is just as fresh and prized to-day as it has been in the months that are passed— among difficulties that have each seemed in turn to be almost insurmountable. Satan would have us try to-day to bear to-morrow's burden with only to-day's grace and would dismay us with anticipation of troubles which loom in the distance, leading us to disobey the directions, "Take no thought for the morrow," " Be careful for nothing •" but what a privilege it is to be permitted" to rest upon the assurance, "I will go before theethou shall not be without a Guide and " He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness," "I will make the crooked places straight," the rugged places plain and when thou comest up to them thou slmlt find insurmountable difficulty already removed ; that thy foes, like jehoshaphat's, have slain themselves, that thou hast to strip off . the spoils, and to make the valley one, not of conflict, but of praise- a Betachah. Again and again it has been so in China, and doubtless many of our friends at home can bear the same testimony. A difficulty in the family which they were powerless to cope with, % perplexity in the profession or business, a spiritual difficulty, or one connected with service for the Lord, has threatened to disturb the peace and to fill with dismay; but it has been rolled upoa the Lord, and given over to Him to manage or arrange ; the command has been obeyed, " In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God," and the promised peace of God, garrisoning the heart, has kept the care and worry outside, until the time came to find the troble bereft of its sting, the crooked place made straight. And perhaps there are few of us who can look back even a short time without seeing that such cares as have been borne ought to have been thus dealt with and dismissed. Let us seek now and evermore, in childlike simplicity, to commit our " everything" to a loving Father's care and management, so that we may practically in "nothing" b.i anxious, disturbed, or worried.—Rev. J. Hudons Taylor. It Is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.Psa'm cxix. 71. The Lord has two methods by which to lead His children on in the path of His will. By the guidance of His eye," or by the discipline of the " bit" and the " bridle (Psalm xxxii. 9). He does not afflict us willingly. He has no pleasure in our sufferings ; but He loves us too deeply to withhold his chastisements from us, when He sees that through the perversity of our rebellious wills we prefer to follow our own path rather than obey His guidance. Present suffering is often the warning of more serious consequences ahead. Often the soul refuses to pay heed to these forebodings of coming ill, until far heavier and more terrible chastisements are brought down upon him through the depravity of his heart and the dulness of his conscience. It is not until the conscience is thoroughly aroused, and the sin, which has made the suffering necessary, is fully seen aud confessed, that the soul is ready to learn God's statutes. " Before I was afflicted," such a one may truly say, " I went astray," and continued to go astray. The conscience may have become so hardened by the repetition of sin, and the eye of the soul so blinded by the love of it, that the soul pnrsues its evil course with comparative ease, if not actual pleasure. But nothing can be more terrible than this condition. It is " good " for such a one, if even at the cost of all earthly prospects, and all temporal possessions, the soul is delivered from the snare of the fowler. "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell " (Matthew v. 29). " BUT THOU REMAIN EST." j [BY W. J. GOVAN.] "Thou remainest," when the shadows Lengthen on our earthly way, And the brightness of Thy presence Changes darkness into day. I • " Thou remainest," though the seasons Round from spring to winter roll; Still Thou givest fruit and foliage, Summer sunshine in the soul. " Thou remainest," years of childhood I Like a pleasant dream are gone; Hearts with Thee can still be youthful, Fresh and bright as dewy dawn. " Thou remainest," when our loved ones Set like stars across the sea; ! " Yet in Thee, our Life, abiding, Them we have in having Thee. "Thou remainest," floods uplifting, Surge their waves against the shore— Voices of the many waters 1 Soon, and there is sea no more. "Thou remainest," at the dawning Thou didst earth's foundation lay; It shall reach the hour of sunset, Thine, the everlasting day. "Thou rem linest," and the longings Of our spirits are sufficed ; i Ever, over all enthroned, . " Thou remainest," Lord and Christ.