SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10425, 24 April 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

TRUTH IN PARABLES. [BY DR. JOSEPH PARKER], What do Jon do when, reading the massive folios of ancient English authors, you meet passages written in an unknown tongue? Paragraph after paragraph you read with all possible fluency, instantly apprehending the author's purpose; but suddenly the writer throws before you a handful of Latin, or a handful of Greek, what then? If you are absorbed by the interest of the book, you eagerly look out for the next paragraph in English, and continue your pursuit of the leading thought. Do likewise with God's wondrous Providence-Book. Much of it is written in your own tongue—in large-lettered English, so to speak. Read that; master its deep significance, and leave the passages of unknown language until you are further advanced in the rugged literature of life, until you are older and better scholars in God's probationary school. The day of interpretation will assuredly come. You have seen an old man tottering with the gathered infirmities of a weary lifetime, and wandering in darkness on which no summer sun could shed the light of morning: blind! blind from his birth! never saw God's outer robe of many colour; never saw God's shadowed outline—his own mother's face I You have seen such a man, led along the thronged highway by a little child, to whose young, bright eyes, he committed himself in hope and faith. I am that poor, blind wanderer throueh the way of God's mysteries, and that little guide represents the benevolence, the mercy, the tenderness, with'which God leads me from horizon to horizon, until 1 stand amid the encircling glories of the perfect revelation. The commonest mercy of the daytime flames up into a fire-guide, that lights men through the gloom and trouble of the night, We say of some men: " They are not altogether bad; every now and then they come pretty right; so much so that it is hard to distinguish between them and Christians." It is much the same as if we should say of a clock that is not going: " Really, that clock is not so bad after all: every now and then, twice in the twenty-lour hours, it is perfectly right ; it may be right all day by and by." No ; not until the mechanism is put in order, and the pendulum is started. So with man; the heart must be right before the life can be true. THE PRAYER TELEPHONE. The annals of philanthropy present, even to the most indifferent observer, many striking coincidences, to use no stronger word, between prayers offered and benefits received. When the ancient precepts about taking care of the fatherless are complied with in earnest the ancient promises about answers to prayer seem to have a strange trick of verifying themselves. Muller's orphanages, Spurgeon s orphanage, Dr.'Barnardo's work for homeless children, are groups of awkward facts for people who "believe there is nothing in prayer." And here in the Sunday Magazine for February is a remarkable testimony, taken down by a stenographer from the lips of Mr. Quarrier in his sick room, to the connection of prayer with his great work for the orphans of Scotland.

THE TESTIMONY OF MR. QOARBIER. " For twelity-five years," he says, "it has been with me a continual answer to prayer, When very young he towed that "if God prospered him " he should build houses for orphans. He worked seven years in caring for the rough street-boys of Glasgow, and was in touch with some 300 of them In the Shoeblack, Parcels and Newspaper Brigade. He was then in business, and had a wife and family to provide for. Biti lie longed for a better way of carrying <ut his childish dream

For three mouths 1 prayed to God for guidance, and in the end resolved that if He sent me £20001 should embark in the greater work. Nobody knew of that resolution; it was a matter between God and myself. If God wanted me to do more work| than I was doing I felt that he would send me the the £2000, not in proportions, but in a solid sum.

He wrote to the newspapers urging that poorhouse and reformatory were not enough for street children. Homes were needed :— After waiting thirteen days the answer came. Amongst my other letters was one from a Scotch friend in London, to the effect that the writer would, to the extent of £2000, provide me with money to buy or rent a house for orphan children. When I received that call 1 felt that my family interests and my business interests should be second, and that God's work among the children should be first.

HOW HE BEGAX. He commenced by renting a workshop in Renfrew-lane. One day two boys came in, and were fitted out with clothes, except that there was no jacket for one of them. The matron concluded. " We must pray God for it." That night a parcel came from Dumbarton, with a jacket exactly fitting the boy. " That was a small thing," observed Mr. Quarrier, " but if you don't see God in the gift of a pair of stockings ,you won't see Him in a gift of £10,000." They kept thirty boys in the first home; but feeling the need of a larger home, prayed for it and got it. This was Cessnock House, with room for one hundred. In 1872 they had sixty children able to go to Canada. Of the £600 needed they had got all but £70; and having prayed for that amount they got it exactly in £00, £10, and two £5 notes at the precise moment it was wanted. Similarly, in regard to a needed evangelist, it was a case of" Ask and have."

TOO PARTICULAR IX PRAYER. Mr. Quarrier felt it no irreverence to indicate to the Almighty the precise details, as well as the general 'Outline of what he wanted After a number of years' work in Glasgow with the Girls' Home, in Govan with the Boys Home, and with the Mission premises, the need of a farm became great. I prayed for money to purchase a farm of about 50 acres, three miles or so from Glasgow. It was to have a burn running through it, good drainage, and everything necessary. I was anxious to get this burn for the children to paddle in and fish in; but I feel now that at the time I was rebellious against God in fixing the site so near Glasgow. We visited a dozen places, but the cost was so great that I was fairly beaten. God had shut up every door. A friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in Kilmalcolm Parish 'hat was to be sold. I replied that I had not, and that I considered the. place too far away. In talking over the matter, he persuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and standing where our big central building is now, saw that it had everything ,1 prayed. [or— perfect drainage, and not only the burn, but a river and a large flat field for a recreation ground— said in my heart to the Lord : This will do." Ever since I, have blessed the Lord for that ; my way is not God's way,

and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrew shire hills, away from the ways of men. ||| DOUBLING INCOME BY PRAYER. .''ill The crash of the City of Glasgow Bui*® was a terrible menace, but it only roto*T# him to more audacity of requestill All the money belonging to the Homes ntCM all my own was in the City of Glasgow Bint when it failed, and hundreds of givers involved as well. On my way up from the I Homes on the day of the disaster, a gentl,! mau met me and told me the sad news At the moment I realised what the news meant for me—my own personal loss and the need. & of the Homes—for that was in September 3 i our financial year closed in October. There and then I prayed that God would** help me through, and that during the court. "S of the following year, which I saw would VF one of financial distress all over Scotland-H. would double the gifts to us. The result »u § that we were able to clear our financial ft counts with ease at the end of October and in the year following, when every church i» ; r Scotland and every philanthropic work had less money than they needed, the Ornhan Homes had double what it required. In th« 5$ God honoured my trust. , *' if DEFINITESESS OF PETITION*. , His first church at Bridge-of-Weir proving too small, he prayed for a new church to hoS 4 ■ 1000 persons and to cost £5000, and hpi prayed not that the money might com.'ft anyhow, but that it might be the gift 0 f i®: single donor. After a period of praying and s waiting, a friend turned ap andnlanbrfiS down £5,000 for the church. In the same • way he prayed for clock and chimes forth,?! church, and got them. He prayed for »'£ reservoir of good water for his village got it. This strange interview conclude, " with Mr. Quarrier remarking The direct answers to prayers of which I could tell you would fill a volume, and what :*- I have mentioned are only those fixed in 0 memory. I have always asked God for a definite gilt for a definite purpose, and (Jed has always given it to me. The value of the'? buildings at Bridge-of-Weir is 200,000, and® since we started, the cost of their " up-keen" has been £150,000. And we are still buildup as busily as in the beginning. . ™

WORDS OF WISDOM. If thou wouldst have an unction froth th* Holy One, sink to the level of a. babe in wisdom. j),... If thou wouldst have Him work miftitfl, in thee, cease from thine own doings. v , If thou wouldst have Him to dwell with thee, be poor in spirit. If thou wouldst have his strength exerted for thee, be weak. If thou wouldst hear Him speak to thee; be silent. If thou wouldst have Him move thee, hi still. It thou wouldst have Him lead thee, for. sake thine own desires. If thou wouldst have Him impress thee forsake thine own thoughts. ' If thou wouldst have Him control thee, be slow to speak. If thou wouldst have Him mend thee, accept His discipline. If thou wouldst have Him bless thee, see Him in all things. If thou wouldst catch His whisper, shnt thine ear to other sounds. If thou wouldst have Him change thee into His likeness, hold thyself at all times peace. fully in His presence. If thou wouldst have Him all to thee, sink into nothingness before Him. In short, if thou wouldat have the inner temple of thy being filled with God, go out it thyself and abandon it to Him,

MESSIAH'S REIGN. " In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, wbick i- : shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shit if' the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious, Isa. xi. 10. }!£;>■ What is the reign of Sixty Yean, . Compared with what shall be ( . When He whose right it is to reign t ■''$£ Shall rale in equity: Shall banish want of every kind, ; ■ f 'fjs. Distress, and care, and tears, _ - * Throughout the glorious, golden reigl i / \ Of blest millennial years? Oh, never has the earth as yet , OJ; Been worthy of its Lord, , «*j!j Save just the little' space of time • \ ; Bright Ellen's joys record; 'Twill be so then; how fair the scene In prophecy appears, .. ' v jw Which earth shall know when dawns at length The blest millennial years I ' When David's greater Son shall rule ' 'vv-; In holiness divine, The " Sun of Righteousness," whose beans ■ ;. O'er every land shall shine. jfev He, once the Victim! how the thought '-- To us His name endears 1 |J$ 'Tis meet that He should know the joy f£ ; Of blest millennial years I ' -jg{ i We hail our Monarch'? lengthened reign <$j^> As praise ascends on high, ' And pray that blessings, rich and large, Our God shall yet supply. / ; Yet, oh I how far exceeds the joy HfT Foretold by heaven-sent seers, When earth "hall blossom as the rose 1 In blest millennial years! I iasi'' ALBERT MIDLINE.