SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11229, 25 November 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

LIVING BY THE WAY. [BY REV. THEODORE L. CUTLER, D.D., LL.D.] "m y house was well built," said ii farmer once to me, "for it was built by the day." That is the way in which the best, strongest, an! happiest lives are built; they arc not constructed "by the job," but one attainment in grace is laid upon another like the blocks of granite in a solid house wall. Each day brings its duty to be done, its temptation to be met and conquered, its burden to be carried, and its progress to be made heavenward. There are 365 days in every year, but really there is only one working day, and that is to-day, Sufficient to each days is the evil thereof. This is just the sort of living that I commend to my readers. God means to shut you up to this style of thinking and planning and doing when Ho makes His gracious promise, "As thy day so shall thy strength be." The journey made up a mountain is simply a succession of steps. If the climber attempts to leap forward he exhausts his strength; if he looks down he grows dizzy; and if lie looks too far forward he gets discouraged by the distance yet to be surmounted. So in accomplishing each day's work you have simply to take one step at a time, and to take that wisely is all that you need to think about. Take no anxious thought for the morrow. God never made a Christian strong enough to stand the strain of today's duties and all the load of one's anxieties piled upon the top of them. Paul himself would have broken down if he had attempted the foolish experiment. We have a right to ask our Heavenly Father for strength equal to the day, but we have no right to ask Him for one extra ounce of strength beyond it. My friend, learn to take short views. If you have money enough to-day, for your daily wants, and something over for Christ's treasury, don't torment yourself with the idea that you will yet fetch up in the almshouse. If your children cluster around your table to-day, enjoy the music of their voices, train them for God and trust them to God without racking yourself with a dread that the little ones may be carried off by scarlet fever, or the older ones may fall into bad marriages or some other disaster. Faith carries present loads, meets present assaults, feeds on present promises, and commits the future to a faithful God. Its daily song is:— ' ° " Keep thon my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene: one step's enough for me." So we exhort you again most earnestly to tako short views. Let us not climb "tho high wall till we get to it, or fight the battle till it opens, or shed tears over sorrows that may never come, or lose the joys and blessings that we have by the sinful fear that God may take them away from us. We need all the grace that Ho can give us for to-day battles. I would not penetrate into the secrets which to-morrow hides if I could. It is far better to know Whom we trust, and that He is able to keen all that we commit to Him until the last great day. " Why forcast the trials of life With such sad and grave persistence. And look and watch for a brood of ills That as yet have no existence? " Strength for to-day is all we need, For we never will see to-morrow; When it come the morrow will be a to-day With its measures of joy or sorrow." The earnest Christian who lives by the day not only faces each trial as it comes, but lie also is on the look-out for each day's opportunities for serving his Master. Almost every Christian promises himself that some time or other he will be very holyminded and very useful. The growing, productive Christian is he who is on the watch for opportunities and grasps them when they come. The beautiful morning-glories which opened 111 my little garden yesterday are all withered away. So with some precious opportunities to serve my Saviour and to do good to fellow-man they will never bloom again. But there wore fresh flowers that opened with this morning's sun; even so doth our Master give us a fresh chance to serve Him and to bless others every day we live Here lies the generic difference between profitable and unprofitable Christians. The one class are always looking for opportunities to do a kind act, to gain an influence, to win a soul to Jesus. Wiiii» m El V 1 n ? hafte ? bur y in England and »illiam E. D ,'„ in America, were two men _ whose livs illustrated grandly the S? le ,° BraS s ing evcrv da y's opportunities to strike a blow for Jesus Christ. The holy and heroic General Samuel C. Armstrong of Hampton Institute—the noblest benefactor the negro has had, next to 4.bra--2»° C 0 left a remark able pan", " ! J 11 ?' before his death, in which he .ay», J. have never made any sacrifices " It was joy and ecstasy, the very life of his hi™'l,n dgood ,.' tbe " sa " ;fica " would which been.to miss the precious opportunity rndtifnVr br ° Ught him ' Harlam Page even for IS t ne !'° r °- talk to an y even for 15 minutes, without sarin" someOur S da« , '° Pr ° fit tllat soul. ml C emtwechoose to which ™7' ° happy (lays are those in the most Vc e golden occasions, and he eho t nT, Ctre that - an haunt what wil m a lost opportunity. That is who fling TwaV le ChriV n i nd " rabl V 0 those tinfe for Repentance. ° Bm #nd ltn new duties come new ■mnnlips grace every morning to those who" seek it by earnest prayer We cannot live on veste ISJl S J ak , As the children of Israel hcLnlv f ? a , fresh supoly of Arthur quieT m Wlth ! >is «'' to have Arthur TappaiThad aJ' his Masterroof in his store fnr „ TV' near «ie these times of , noonda devotions. In business m: would I n reS3 , and , st » ™ and nerve their faith'iff? fit r beads the heat of the kyV nil LTI St ° P ' mid »rd A draught "of m®, ' n our °ntniorninc i tk* • Bible taken everv dows to S, thV. h r ms open '°f the soul's win' a few words oSn?T i3eS ° f ! ho Mast «- of kindness to tho firstT' oed or

— < vnnr feet "like hint ' 3' feet " for the day's j i march If you want '° get your aches and f| i your trials out of sight, bury them under j s°)!'5 °)!' mercies. Begin every day with God ; : vour mercies. Begin every day with God, ft j and then, keeping step with your Master, ;t>|| | march mi toward home over the roughest roed,';*#; L or in face of the hardest winds that W|§ . Live for Jesus by the day, and on ever, |j day, until you come where the Lamb „J§ | the light thereof," and there is 110 nigbt|g|jf there. I f THE REDISCOVERED CHRIST. j - How do we stand to-day in reference lyM | this great fact ? We live in a time when ad-' if $ miration for Christ is at a higher than, | has ever been the case before, The magio :■$ 1 question of the hour is, as everyone knows, .■.»* I "What would Jesus do The appearance | of Mr Sheldon's book, 'In His Steps, has v-Mg £ created something liko a sensation in the 'Ml world of literature. It cannot be because it M | is well written, for it is not. I question *§ A if Us author would claim that it is. It can- M B „nt be because it is powerfully planned it '■■ is not It is a simple story almost without ,;jp | lot It lias succeeded because the world W h was ready for it, because the conscience of-§§! mankind has accepted it. The question, ■ *||| What would Jesus do ? has been m solu-.sg ! 3 tion as it were for a long time. Men turn to .M Christ as to the ethic of human),)'. Where does this come from ? How is it '.hat the man of the world equally with tho son of the Church accepts Christ to-day as the ante- t: tvne of what humanity should lie . I an- m i sirer that among other influences surely it is gg a consequence of the rediscovery of the his- & torical Christ. That mighty movement which'- f bewail amongst scholars in Germany many a | generation ago, with which in particular is as- ,;g |f sociated the name of Strauss, lias professed to | (five us back the very Jesus of Galilee, and it,;*s | has given us the real Jesus whom 1 cter saw,. 5g H and has gone far to destroy the merely tradi- % tional and ecclesiastical Christ. Those who ■£ have " rediscovered" Jesus for us, to use an | % exaggerated phrase, which line some truth =&f in it have told us that the Church has for §|f| centuries been covering Him up so that we I' could not get at Him, and that ecclesiastical £ tradition has made Him appear other than He • •&. g actually was. This is a marvellous movement $ and a gain incalculable. To see the real '-Jig g? Jems is of the utmost importance to the» 1 vitality of Christianity. But as Dr. Fair- m § bairn points out, this age. . though mora $g | perfectly acquainted with the historical Christ,.-if; $ is not pre-eminent for devotion to the living ra If* Christ. In this feature of religious life other [ / ages that have known less about the histori- .gp cal Christ has surpassed our age. It is a-gg grave question for us to face , men know more about Jesus than ever they did; we m & see Him as He lived and walked among men, M L, we have treasured His actual words, wo Jg |l know tho circumstances under which they | were spoken, we strip Him of all the adorn* $ ments that the ecclesiastical spirit has put • upon Him, but do we love Him any more .f; | than the simple, saintly souls in other ages' ; v jf of the Church have done ? I think we must '<§> & answer No. I claim that it is not impossible £ that we might. I assert that it is gloriously |te true that some do. To many loyal men now, w as in other days, Christ is the very Alpha eg ( and Omega, the all in all; but to the man y-; J 0 the world, who asks the question, " What J would Jesus do ?" Jesus is not the Lord of » life and death, the Arbiter of our destiny $ U ill the unseen. We need to lay stress not £1 upon the Christ that was, but upon the Christ g that is, and the gain to Christianity to-day g 4 from the movement I have just been mentioning to you is that it has shown the Christ ■<£ > of history and the Christ of faith to be one and *i the same. If the very Jesus before Whom $ fe Peter knelt in his contrition, tho very Jesus «£< p from Whose lips Peter received his eommis- g i| sion, is the Jesus Who lives and reigns and > watches o-.er the actions of men at this hour, % & then Christianity is safe, for the call that | Peter received is the call to-day you and I J g are bound to listen to: "Follow thou Me.' ..||| Now, as then, the commission of our Master ■ 11| is given to His Church— are to witness for '■;$ Him in the world, to tend the sheep and to .| y; feed the lambs.-Rev. R. J. Campbell, 8.A., | V IS LIFE WORTH LIVING » ;| f I John iii. 16. d [BY AN INVALID FOE FORTY YEABS.] | Lite has been very hard to me fte From earliest years; but could I see Nought better in what is to heYet I would live. Jpj Save that of self to know no will, :gj|| To eat, to drink, to take one's fill Of pleasure's cup, ne'er having ill— iiftn This is not life. To live is to love, to love to die fill To self, to all not pure and high. 1 m To care for others tenderly— This is to live. -s'W • & To bring the prisoner forth to light, ,5,;;^ To raise the fallen in the fight. . To die while battling for tiro right— % & This, this is life. % ffi Earth's fevered breath, by plenteous showet, j'i To fragrance turns in eve's still hour; £? And love to the sick heart gives power— & And sweeten's life. . If I might dry no sorrow's tear, Nor seek the burdened heart to cheer, $ Or no more care for others here— Then death were sweet. S Yet could my love make strong to bear ' ® 'S* Or ease in anght life's fret and care, § » Just making it for one more fair— gi 'Twere sweeter life. |i, [f? But if love's words, thought light of here. J§ From the blue heavens should sound more '% clear, And, clarion-voiced, wake death's cold ear- :ji is Then I would die. M 1 _________________ J.C.J "i i