SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

A GIFT RETURNED. ' ET .THE REV. Kt>SKLL H. COJTWKLI.".' " And in thy seed shall all the nation* of the earth he "blessed, for thou hast obeyed My voice "—Gen. sxxii- 13It was a very quiet funeral, and the corpse was not yet dead; indeed, he was going to his own obsequies and did not know it. There was but a single mounter, and he was in doubt whether to be sorrowful or glad. It was indeed a very curious procession. Only one person in the entire party knew even the direction they were to take, and none of them knew of the order of the • funeral service*. It is a singular record and . a very Interesting sociological and spiritual study. ' Abraham is on the way to his own son's funeral—going to Moriali in accordance with the command of God, there to offer up his son as a burnt-offering to God. The stole of mind in which Abraham must have found himself during that journey is a profitable study. Abraham had been promised that his seed should be like the stars of the heavens, • and that in them all the nations should be blessed. And yet, when having but one child, he is commanded of God to offer up that child as a burnt-offering. It. all seems so confusing and contradictory. Yet Abraham, with that firm conviction so characteristic of his noble nature, is willing to obey God's commands, whether he understands His purposes or not. It must have been an exceedingly sad journey— to his only hoy's funeral, ; wiiu his son trotting alongside, chatting gleefully, asking all kinds of questions about the mountains and the hills, and the woods, the waters, the path, and the people; as interested in life as though he were to live on to an old age. The father was obliged to answer all his questions cheerfully, _ as though noting important was happening I concerning his child. Abraham cannot open ' his mind to his son. , I THE LIFE OK A CHRISTIAN. There are situations just as difficult in the : life of the Christian. When wo read that , Jesus pleads for us in heaven with groamngs that cannot be uttered, meaning that they ■ cannot be "outwardly" uttered, because i for some great divine reason He must keep ' all those secrets to Himself and suiter and : groan within rather than reveal them. In that we catch something of the idea and the feeling in the heart of Abraham. How often it ha>mens in the history of organisations, societies, churches, and families that a Rood Christian knows something that would destroy or disgrace or shame the entire organisation, and he can only groan within and say nothing, even when it injures himself and ' puts him to shame. Such was the situation > of Abraham on the way to Mount Moriah, l with no me to whom he could impart his awful - ,; he suffered and groaned in spirit. ' How must he have felt when he thought ' of his journey back to his home? We should • bo glad that we have not had Abraham s experience. How must be have felt when he 1 feared he must bury the ashes of his son in l the mountain and come back homo and im- ' part to his wife the awful news that her only son had been slain by him and offered 1 up to God? How lie dreaded to.come back; and how his heart" must have failed him at the thought," must tell ray wife of this terrible loss!" ' - : OK THE AT/TAR. ; Yet this record is doubtless preserved to show us that a similar experience to. that '■ must come into every life, and that Abraham was not a great exception, but that he was chosen as an, illustration of a great truth that mankind must learn e- ,1 to the end of the world. In Abraham's time this lesson was especially sad and horrible, because around him were the Amoritcs, who worshipped Moloch, and before him they burned their children. When disease afflicted a city, then the most beautiful and fair of the youth of the city were selected as an offering and laid upon the fiery altar. These were not unfamiliar scenes to Abraham, and hence to him there must have been far more reality in the command of God than there is to us to-day. ,• - But the whole thought in this text, and which seems to make the story so fascinating, is found in the condition of Abraham's "mind. I cannot believe that Abraham actually thought that he was really going to drive that knife into the heart of his son, and that the fire would burn to ashes that dear body, and that he would really return to his home alone. Our reason for that belief is found in the answer that he made to his son when the boy said, "Behold, here is the fire and here is the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?"' Then the jather said, "My son, God will himself provide a lamb for a burnt-offering." it may be that he thought his son would die. Saving the HOT. Yet [ think that he expected that God would in some way save the boy from such a death. That depended entirely on his view of God. The Amorites and the Hittites would have taken the worse view, because they worshiped God simply through fear, and only tried to appease the gods who •'.ought harm. Had Abraham had such a view of God he would- have expected a most horrid result. But his view of God was so different. He thought that the "Lord wa* the author of every good gift, and that Satan was the author of everything evil. Therefore, he must have said, " Although I cannot see, yet God, who knows better than I, is leading me to some ultimate good." We do not know that Abraham was acquainted with the oldest bookthe bock of Job—but yet his action was very much like the teaching of .fob—"Yea, even though: He slay me, still will I trust in Him"—and he must have said to himself, "Yea, although He slay my boy, and he be burnt to ashes, get will I trust in Him." I thought of Abraham's position when I read in the papers of the illness of that great New York merchant, one of the most successful of the age. Years ago, in Philadelphia, he was a salesman employed by a firm which has long since passed into obscurity. He was in the dry goods department of. the store, and one day there came in a lady of refinement who examined a line of good's which they had begun to adulterate by putting in cotton in place of wool. The lady asked if the goods were all wool, and the young man hesitated a moment, and then looking at her straight in the' face, said, "Madam, I will have to tell you the truth it is not all wool, but we believe it to be just as good as though it were all woolthere is about ten per cent, cotton in it," ' HE HAD DONE 810, T. The lady did not take the goods, but the proprietor had heard what the young man had said, and ho told him to take his Irtt and coat and go, and he would be paid at the end of the week if he came in for his wages; but they did not want him in their employ. He stood on the comer, meditating as to what he should do. He had just moved to this city ami furnished two small rooms tor his wife and. two little girls. He wondered what his wife would say, whether she would say that it was not necessary for him to tell the lady that the goods were not all wool, or whether she would, as most women would do, say that he had done right-co maintain his honour. But the f ac t is that he did obtain work, although at a much lower salary than he had been receiving, and lie has since become one of the most sue cessful merchants in America. Thia was' M. position: "Shall. I trust God and do "what is right, and accept the loss, or shall I refuse to d V, at God commands?" He chose to ooey God s commands. ' But Isaac was, given back. This is the glory of the whole thought. He gave k c to God, but God interfered and told him offer a ram instead. How- true it was then as it was when Christ said it; Everyone that has forsaken houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or -hild or My names sake shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life!" hen John Wilson, w!-., was a stonemason in England, and associated with John Wesley, began to preach, his family ridiculed him and upbraided him because he wan re(lacing his income. But he' insisted on work ing at his trade part of the day, and preach-

—.___. .„.—--=^a|lg ing tllCi Gospel th« other part of Lh*» day,, m . working at his trade hi the day time '^ , {-" ! " '■' preaching the Gospel at night. • But ;. whSu he loved ■"•hi*, family, yet- he felt that - be nt>iH surrender himself and hi* all to fro-,!, j ftf i i that he must preach th» Gospel. "When was imprisoned in .1 dungeon beneath 1 j slaughterhouse, where the blood sfeijj^t j down upon hint through the Boor, even tW;'"'-* darkness and dreadful stench of the ,•„', A , j ccmltl not take away from him the to* 'ik,..'"'., was in his-heart. How his family andApHfjal j friends loved him for his heroism in anrrsa--- 8 j de-ring himself and hi* all to his ("hid! , ..---. .- '..■■■-.'■.■- -■■ r :'.*'.:...'Z:z>':&~M C'tVJUf TO GO!>. Did von ever lie upon the operating t.i', ; j when the - nurse came to you so ftdmiisifUj i the ether to prepare you for the ( W ', , lr ■ ' knife? Did you feel that perhaps y f ,~. ". might never wake Up from the *kt?p "w~hh% the ether would 'produce, and that yon mi-",; wake only to find yourself in eternity!' py :\M;B you n«k. yourself, "Are rev sin* forghneri*"'":and in the minute that elapsed before th* • administering of that anaVdiciie, did v»>.j .-' ask yourself. "It I wake ,5. 1, «»«ni*, what will I gee?" Did you «urrender .v.i.r' ' self to your God? And after the operation 'V ■' was over, and you began to regain conu;ifnj*, nea*» did you open your eye* and wonder '" whether you were-in'heaven or on earth ;■■■■■•■%! and when you gradually realised thai vr,y were still in the land of mortality did ?t*u ', say, "I gave myself to (Jml, but God "hat given me kick to myself?'! > It wa« ( this " surrendering of self that toad* Abraham's? offering so sublime. That mmi I spirit of sseU-snrrender is what it is saidtnade | Demosthenes the mighty orator that he **** i It is said that his* great power did not con- 1 -*! sist in the arrangement., or the worth, t ) even in the greatness of his thought*., m mueh m it did in ths entire forgetfvilues) 0 himself. Tie same is true of Daniel Webster, ; Demewthenex 'wm a mighty orator, «,, say: yet it was because he himself wanhiddsu in the greatness* of the cau>'e that he Mldmi to make plain and to have under-tr.Kt. T(> lose onewU in the rav«.<e i" the leswon i; ut God would teach.us this morning. A SBI,FM*nHKN!>KI:. Mitfioiuet'vi great »ui*e»«<a ("insisted in hi* «•*. / euleating thin spirit id self-surrender. l\>r thirty days of every year at Ramadan he and his diaeiplea were obliged to tttcriftee and give themselves up to (bid. Kvery year [or .-month -Mahomet would do lowly hotisowori ' to express the fact that he was of but iitth» account personally, and that God Was all. It has been that spirit of wlf-tairrender that Inns given the Mohammedan religion its fln . ;& tiro vitality, and while that religion jg jn m "'' many ways fake and misleading, yet this one thing in true to nature, and consequently true to God. This it the great. Christian trail. When . .'• Christ came into the world lie gave cvtry- £ t'''.iiur and surrenderee! all to God. " Into ' Thy hands I commend My spirit." And (Jot! raised Him. And, like Abraham, we should X" on and do our duty, although we mai' not understand the purpose of the Lord, feeling " sure that if we surrender ourselves, it oeing (iod'x wish, He will see that it will work out for our good. He that dies for big tio t ] shall have life: he that spends himself freely for others in the name of God shall recent* a hundredfold more in this present time, ami in the world to coin life everlasting. It .-, not a barguin'with God. It cannot be mwc in that spirit. It must be a complete selfabnegation', a sinking down before God, confessing we are tv his* and that God is »11, and thanking Him for His* willingness to use .-'i us in any direction for good.