SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

; THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. :r - ; . . [BY THE REV. T. DE WITT. TALUACE, D.D.] "I am the bright and morning; star."—■' Eev. ' xxii. 16. . ■ V-: Have you ever seen the morning star advantageously? If it was on your way home : from.a night's carousal you saw none of its beauty. If you merely turned over on your pillow in the darkness, glancing out of ■ the . window, you knew nothing about the cheer.ful influence of that star. ' v,. - 1 . .' ; But there are many who, in tremendous : passes of their life,, some of them far. out '■ at sea, have gazed at that' star and been . thrilled through with indescribable gladness. That star conies trembling, as though 'with theiperils of the darkness, and yet bright with the anticipation of the day. It seems emotional with all tenderness, its eyes filled i ; with the tears of many sorrows, it is the i gem on the hand of- the morning thrust u}i ] to . signal its coming. Other , stars are dim, ike' holy candles in a cathedral, or silver , beads counted in superstitious, litany;, but this ; i3'-a living star, a speaking star, a his- i tone star, ' 1 ; ■■,•;■ AN EVANGELISTIC STAR-— .■' ■; ■ brignt,' an d brilliant, and triumphant symbol: ' of the'great Redeemer. ■'.' ■The telegraphic operator puts his finger, on the silver key of the electric instrument, and the tidings fly across the continent ; and so it seems., to me that the finger of inspiration is placed upon the. silver point in the . heavens and it thrills trough all the earth. 1 ; : . -LSeliold, I bring you good tidings of : great , joy which .shall be to all '.people. - Behold,' !; ' am the 'bright and morning star." .: The meaning of my text:, is' this: as . the morning star precedes and promises the' coming of the day, so . Christ heralds the natural and spiritual dawn;' ■ " •• ■ : ,■;>ln;the first place, Christ heralded the com-' ing of t.ho Creation. vThere • was a time when there was no'* order, •< no' sound of beauty. ;: No wing stirred. No word was uttered. No light, sped. As .far as God could' look up, as far down, as far out, there was nothing. , Immeasurable solitude. Height - and depth, and length, and breadth of nothingness. i. /. . . Did Christ then exist? Oh, yes. "By Him were all things made that are madethings ill heaven, and things in earth, and" things .under the earth." Yes He * antedated, .the Creation. H 0 led forth Areturus and ~ his-,sons. .Ho shone before the first morning. His voi<<e was heard in the concert when the morning stars 'serenaded the advent of our infant earth, when, ■ • TOED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES CP LIGHT, it lay in' the anns of the great Jehovah. S ' t He saw the first foundation laid. 110 saw! the.?fiist light kindled.:. That hand which was,afterwards crushed' upon the cross was worM into ChaOS ' and .it brought OUt 0110 world and swung it in. that orbit- and ought out another world .and swung it ft another orbit; and brought : out all the orbit?' Tim swung them "} their particular orbits. .1 hey came like sheep at the call ot a shepherd. They knew His voice! and He called cm . all by their names.. ... • Oil, it is :an interesting thought to. me to know that Ohrist had something to do with for Him hi " 1 See " 0W Why . ifc was 80 eas y 01 Him to change our water into wine Ho first created the water. .1. see now why it was so easy for Him to .cure' the maniac He first ; created the intellect. I see now ! Why It was SO easy for Him to hush the ten" post-. Ho stink Gennesareth. l ; v^ ; I see. now why it was so easv for Him to «»» s ~u Simon . s nA j,; awj fish. I see now why it- was so easv for Him ogive sight to th ; - blind man.' He created easv' for V wh - v k ' easy for Hi m fto raise , Lazarus from the dead. He created the. body :of Lazarus a.ml the lock that shut him in ' ' a,ltl Ifo1fo S,uF; ,OSe t] Af Christ r a .me a stranger shepherds.and II,« flocfe'they'waS? ml ho hills on which they paistuVccl and v i heavens that overarched their heads and ChriSiS St. Cha, Tkt t !imd orus °" tliat ' aftervvards „ailed to the wal an'L™ pptenfc and creative hand anrl w i i Z V Sl aS I)oised fhe' tip of one^of wnrfrk 10 he-world was. Christ was. All the sigisss? " good'-iii gh t' V ' Ha Star of-the first creation ! ' Momm in aSi»riL r ?t h r l s t!i < dawn of comfort p&'&z&krr, Sffi k 'j fect in ( , he !,all - t ' le ' hpavy e tread ot those who ma;.,,!, to tile yp < ? (Ufl Arrows? 8om" t0 d °, * mid '- 11 tW WtjJ Mr lip unf'i! ffvgi ~ I ZZ : sate •ook.up into What seems to them an nn pitying heaven; some pull their hair down ovei their eyes, and look throng, with a fiend 1 • fr- some with both'hands press God' hot, brain want to dm, a "d crv "Ob God-oh, God ! Long night, bitter night,' . ; STUPENDOUS night OF ..the world's '" '. . SUFFERING. , Some know not which way to turn. ' Jil . not . so 'he Christian man. He looks up -toward the heavens. Can it be only a flashing meteor ? Can it be onlv a" fallinsr TV i Can it be only a delusion? "Nav „ av ' Ihe longer ho looks the- more distinct "it becomes, until, after a while, he cries out ,i , sta! f A morning star! A star of com! The star i v' grace l A star ° peace' Tim star Redpemer! * . Peace for all trouble: balm for all wounds. Life for all dead. Now Jesus, the great Heart-healer, comes into our home. Peace —peace, that passeth all understanding We look upl through our tears. We are' com-' forted. It is the morning star of the Redeemer! •. .

" Who broke, off that flower?" said on«''* % servant in .the garden to another. "'Who 4 broke off that flower?" And the other ser.''A'/i vant said, "The master;" 'Nothing moiitflß i was said, for if tho master had not a right" ; to break oft a flower to wear over, his heart r ""*1 >• or to set in, the vase in the mansion, who i " . has a right to touch the flower? And when CHRIST COMES iDOWN INTO OUR GARDEN*'. 'Wsf ' to i gather lilies shall we fight Him' ; back? Shall wo talk as l though -He had■ ho' : iiglirfltli; ' to come? If anyone'in all the universe has ' ''o '* a. right to that which is beautiful in our' "-1 homes, then our Master has, and He will 1 take it, and Ho will wear it over His heart '-V' :: or 'Ho will set it in the vase of the palaeo V' eternal. "The Lord gave, and the Lord ' hath taken away; blessed be the name. of „\| ■ the Lord." ..:. :.'■;■: ■'^■'^ . " - , J v Peace, troubled'soul. I put the balm ou '111 your wounded heart to-night. The morning ' . star, the morning star of the Redeemer.VSS' Again, Christ heralds the dawn of millen.- 11$ '; riial glory. It is night in China, night in H India, night in Siberia, night for the vast ■ '■:■ majority of the world's population. 1 But it ■; seems to me there are some intimations of the morning. What is that light I see ' v breaking over the top of the::'Alps'fcjThelHH morning. All India shall come to . God.- , Her idols shall be cast down. Her Jugger- \ * nauts'shall be broken, her temples of inf."' -,"h I quity shall be demolished. , * < " "i V What, is that light, I see breaking over tlie|f®Sl : top:,of ,the Himalayas? The ■morning. The purpled clouds shall: guard the path of ' V- ; 4 ; the conquering: clar, ''■ " ■ Tlie~Hottentot will come out of his mud ' ; hovel,io look at the dawn, the Chinaman ,' ; will come up on the granite cliffs, and all ."A ; the beach of heaven -will be crowded ■ with s celestial inhabitants come out to see the sun. * '£* ' rise over the ocean of. the world's agony.'!-'- -,:i ; They shall come from the East and froniT"*S® ' the West,' from the North and from {he 'J- 1 Soul.li, and sit:; down ,: in the kingdom: ■: God. .; : ■'..■■-.- :''•■ ■/.''-■'■.^.i.M^iilljli ; These sweltered under tropical suns, -m'' 1 : These shivered under Icelandic temperature.'-,' jf-f ' These plucked the vineyards in Italy. These ; packed the tea-boxes in China, These were '{If \ aborigines lifting tip their dusky faces in ; the dawn. ' \ ■ if® . And the wind .shall waft it, and every : mountain shall become a transfiguration, and $8 the sea will'become' the walking place of Him"' who trod the wave cliffs of stormy Tiberias ' • ' and the song' of joy shall rise toward Heaveh*'' -' .'i! . and the-great sky will become a sounding- 1 i.board which shall strike back the shout of : salvation to the earth unfil it rebounds f ; again to the throne. of. the . Almighty, and -the morning star ,of Christian hope .will be- 1 ' I .' :■ come the : : :';■'' >S■ ■Mfti|l|||l FULL SUXBUEST OF,. MILLENNIAL GLORY.'' ''VT---Again, Christ heralds the dawn of Heaven .' ; upon every Christian's dying pillow. I sup. ; 'pose you have noticed that the'character- ''iv 1 istics of people in their healthy days are apt : to .be their characteristics in their ■ 'dying' ; -days. The dying words,of ambitious,. , leon were, " Head of the Army." The dy-' |: »i; ing words of : poetic Lord Byron were "1 ■ :'! must sleep now." The dying words of affec- =' • tionate Lord Nelson, " Kiss me, Hardy," i t ,~ The dying words-of-Voltaire,, were, as'i'ia " saw one whom lie supposed to be Jesus in '-. the room, " Crush that wretch." - s ">•, But I have noticed that the dying words 1 " of . ' . 'I; ° ■ , . CHRISTIANS ALWAYS MEAN PEACE. 1 f Generally: the pain is all gone, and there is : feat ; K quietude through :i . the room, As one of these brothers told me last'night, of his 1 mother in the last moment: She looked up >J and ,said, - pointing . to- some supernatural being that deemed to be in the room, "Look*, at that bright form. Why, they have come for me now." The lattice is turned so thatCv'i) the light is very pleasant. It is peace> all,-/ ( i <1 round. -You ask yourself, "Why, can-v this be a ing room? It is so different from c anything I ever expected." \And you walk the floor, and you look out M of the window, and you come back and look "v.'K at your watch, and you look at the face' f of{|%fK the patient again, and there is no change, * 1 except that- the face is becoming more radi- ')V '> '■ ant, more illuminated. The wave of death-iWt; seems coming up higher and higher, until: it 5 fe] has touched the ankle, then it comes on up v M until it touches the knee, and then it comes :v : '] on up until it reaches the girdle,- and then it " ,;■ comes on up until it reaches the lip, and the'-V'/' soul, is about to be . % f ■ ' , FLOATED AWAY IXTO GLORT, \'V , and you roll back the patient's sleeve, and you put your finger on the pulse, and it,'is i J getting weaker and weaker, and the pulse - , stops, and you hardly know whether the.life % has gone or not. Indeed, '"you- cannot toll when she goes away, she goes away^'so" I ?'^'* calmly. -.. - 1 Perhaps -it is four o'clock in the morning',-- -■ < and you hate the bed wheeled round tq'thlffsjN' window, and the dying one -looks out infei-;' - the night sky, and she sees something attracts her attention, and you wonder what' it is. Why, it is a star. It is a star that : . < h out of its silver, rim is .'pouring a' super;^ffe^|: ; , natural light into that - dying experieiice.°';fjiv' : 1 And you say, " What is ,it that you *'are loolnna- at?" She says, "Itis a star." Ycu ( say, "What star is it that seems so v/ell• to; V : please yon?" - "Oh!".,she says, " that is the , Morning Jesus!" •; i, ' I would like to have . my deathbed under,}' "' evangelistic star. I( I would like to have, -: my eye on that star, so I could be assured -% , , :of the morning. Then the dash of the surf: ; of the sea of death would only be the,bil- . lowing up of ! the promise: "When thou. \ ; passetli through the waters, Twill be with-; thee," and the rivers, they-shall not overflow-'-''-:^ thee.". .... .: i _ All oilier lights ; will fail—the lignr inat I falls from the scroll of fame, the light- 'that) \ ' flashes from the gem in the beautiful. apparel, the light that flames from"the burn- , nig lamps of a banquet; but this light burns ' on and burns on. I' j." ; ■' ,I'^ Paul kept his eye on that morning star nil til he could say, "I am now ready; to. be j offered up, and the niej"6'f :';.my^epa : t at., hand. I have fought thea : good ; ifigHpll||l||||j :: have finished 1 : my course, I - have ■::■ kept the xfaith." Edward Payson kept bis eye on that , , star until he could say, "The breezes of" " heaven fan me." '■ _ ( -, 1 ' nfj ( Dr. Goodwin kept his eye on ," - i l -. THAT EVANGELISTIC STAR t until he could say, " I am swallowed up Jo : Cod. ' ■':■ John Tennant kept bis eye on that evan- : gelistio star until lie could say, " Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus—welcome Eternity!" i,s No other star ever pointed a mariner into : : Iso safe a harbour. No other star ever sunk its silvered anchor so deep into the watefi. J No other star over pierced such accumulated ' cloud or beckonodhvith such a holy lustre. /. V'fff I would God that if my sermon does '.not-.:? lead you to Christ, that before morning, , r u ■ looking out of the' window, the astronomy fyl of the night heavens - might' lead you] to the feet of Jesus. ; ;■ t ■ v - ' " W