SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14223, 20 November 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

JOY IN' RELIGION. .. BY THE LATE JOHN ANGEU, JAMEB. ' '''' ' *'« - ' - '. ' .- The spirit of true religion is .->-,' spirit of pure and elevated joy, and it " - thus distinguished from superstition, which is essentially a spirit of gloom, fear J°s I abject sorrow. Situated as the believer • by one paradise lost by sin and another «! '- stored by grace, he may be, expected to combine in his experience the seemingly "om*.& site- states of mind described by the apostl« • l where he says, Sorrowful yet - always f i»I~ ioicinu ;" and the tear drops which he sheds ' for his transgression, however numerous and penitential, should still be irradiated &ith r «i§ .predominant smile of delight, and appeaj. ' like dewdrops sparkling in the sun. The Christian, then, ought to be a joyful as well as a righteous man. His reli g i oft ' should not only adorn his character with the" beauties of holiness, but array his counten--' ance with the smile of peace. Yet how few : ' 'seem to rise to this privilege! If we look " into the Bible we might exneet to see all who roally believe it, and live under its in. flunce. so many happy spirits, carrying, about with them the springs of their own felicity independent alike of the joys &„j>' 1 sorrows of mortality; and yet when, we look, ■"■' 1 at the groat, bulk of professors of religion we are sadly disappointed, and, even "in reference to their happiness, as well as their conduct, are led to ask, " What do ye mora than others?" - j

THE JOY OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE. By religious joy, I do not mean simply the iov of religious people, for all their joy dooj not answer to this description; but I intend the joy produced by religion. It is that hoi? ■oeaee which is the result of Divine truth • understood, believed, and contemplated. It '. i is not the mere exhilaration of animal spirits, the joyousness produced by good health, worldly prosperity, friendship, 'or ;1 taste. It is the joy of faith, of hope, of love; it is joy in God, in Christ, in hot •, j ness. in heaven. It begins when the ttem- i blintr sinner loses the burden of his guilt"" and in that case it is altogether the.joy of. - faith: it is sustained amidst all the trial; of earth by the prospect of heaven, and ' then it is swelled by hope adding its in.. fluence to that of faith and love. Spiritual joy is a very different thing from being what some would wish to represent ■ t it, who, imagining it has been disparaged™;® as it certainly has been the gloom and sourness of some of its professors, oscillate'to the opposite extreme, and attempt to justify a lamentable degree of frivolity, mer- ; riment, and lightness, by the excuse' that ' "religious people ought to be cheerful, and that this is the way to win the people of -,- the world to piety." So indeed they should be cheerful, but then, it should be with the iov of their religion. A Christian is a child of lightshould'live and act, and speak as ) such: he should have something of the Miss : j of heaven, but, withal, much of its serious- ,' j ness too. ' .' '<■-••', j

*. THE ABSENCE OF TRUE JOT. ' . • I The causes of the want of religious joy in i rprofessors are the following: Some are pro-' 1 lessors only, and though.they have a name' S to live, are dead and being destitute of Si faith, are destitute, of course, of all joy and' || peace in believing. Let the joyless* Chris* t? 1 "■ tian search himself, and _ ask if • there be -1 anything more than a Christian in name.- P Many do not want his joy i- at least, they ? 1 do not covet it. They certainly would have '■ ■some kind of enjoyment; they desire' to bo/H gratified; . but it is ; only the joy of friend- I ship. of health, of success in business, of a 0 comfortable home, and a quiet fireside that -c they long for—not' the peace of ; believing, .;,.'■ not the pleasure -of communing' with GqaT ~M not the delight "of a sense of pardoned sin i and * the gratification arising . from the exer- If cises of devotion. When do _ they go ttfGfl&? in ? prayer, saying, " Lord,; lift thou up_the light of Thy countenance upon us; Thou • hast put gladness ;in my heart, more than % in the time that their corn and wine increased ; for with Thee is the fountain of, life; in Thy light shall I see light!" ; v; JOT HEBE AND - NOW. ' ' ' i'f" Great mistakes are made by fmany in re*" ference to spiritual joy. Some imagine it i«> t' Only a privilege to be hoped, waited for, and' f ■ expected in/away of sovereign favour, -but'; | not a duty to be ■-. performed. .That/ it is*;*; dutv is evident from the ..frequency s wife which it is t.en joined, .as..well.as pro.mis|dMJ "We •-■ "are* .commanded' to' "Rejoice" in &.&'. , | Lord." and nothing hinders us but our want' of faith. The source of joy is in the pfeij mise, riot- in yourselves, and it is "to be If drawn out by faith and is not the promised as much to you as to anyone? ... v^l The apostles and first disciples, though 'I persecuted, ■ were joyous men.>.. They aston* 1 i ished the world with the spectacle of moral heroes, who could smile at bonds, imprison- I ment, and death,;and who could go singing., | to meet the victor's rod and axe,■ and to,J encounter the lions of the amphitheatre.! | Christians, do not only tell the world yoU : are happy ,~ but appear so.V Verify by-your '.■.'.-j own i experience the assertion, so . often made;;?! • and expressed, that the Church of Christ is; J the seat of blessedness. Be you a refutation"' of the world's slander upon religion, that. J i it is a sour, unhappy spirit. v >-* j ' y V v HOLINESS 'AND HAPPINESS. ,> -- J j : Be happy Christians, 1 then, as well iii vW& ones. Exemplify in this, as in every otter respect, the spirit of the Gospel. Bo likeyour t Divine I. Master, j in: the purity,- simpli---. city, and joyfulness with \ which you devOtex yourselves to the 'service of mankind. ; Bring more of his serene and happy spirit, into ~ your work. Let your piety De seen tew!.. to bo a perennial,fountain of peace ana joy to vour own soul. 'Anticipate the felicities of heaven here ■ below. ' You. stand in the * .porch of the celestial temple; appear 1«» I > men who not only hear the songs within, but expect soon to see the everlasting gates thrown open \to admit you to God's where there is fulness of joy, and to His .< * right hand, where there v ar« nleasures | fe* * evermore. , ■ i ..*' ..';.V '_. / ./. '... ■\ :;^,.;-~^^?'i|||lp' ■ THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS. •"■ ' REV, H. W. PEPLOE, M.A. ' |v«|| In Israel the priests were never to have tb« smallest anxiety with regard; to their «*'' provision ; and again, every priest of Isrart was connected by blood-tie with Aaron the ; high priest. No man could be a priest ;«*.;■; cept ho was the son of Aaron and no mitt can be a priest in the Church now unless he be related to Christ Jesus by the tie of blood.- Christ is ; the' head of^|||p|j§ priesthood of the Church of God,',**.-, "Father," like Aaron, to all who come under His sway now, and who are linked to. Him by the tie of blood, the blood shed on Calvary, and presented to God. You come under a tie-of blood relationship that Una vou on to Him as a child of the lather. ~ You .take Him for your High Priest, ano . place yourself under His headship, and ; g|: that moment God undertakes to provide you ,; with everything, and says,-i'The r Lord » r vour portion." Wellj, then,' draw upon;. Him;.you never can draw enough. He ( wu* . never give you any " loose cash to carry . in your pocket, but He will always say, , " Draw, and take by prayer all. your new | for. present use." Therefore you are new with the unsearchable riches of Christ, «*- Head of the priesthood. „»» Again, mark that the priests were new , to carry a burden. If you turn to,NooMiW| iv.. you will find that the Levites, \ts » tribe, were outside the priestly, t*™ l were perpetually burdened. But the 'P™*M§ hood had no burden, they were M,v* have any burden; and to us the comma™ * eiven in Psalm lv. 22: "Cast thy the Lord, and He shall sustain thee ; «>»* is: Roll off Thy gift (margin) upoirtßeW** Then you will never know whatsit is w burdened. " Come unto Me, all >."■.: labour, and I will give you rest, • says.Great High Priest of our profession-." troubled soul, why fret with an «nx»tg sense of weight and burden, when J««» .- prepared to take tho whole from you, »" tf carry both the burden and joursesl.

During the past few yeaw;tto.«ggjf ment of metal for shelves has f*rgf-; extensive development in connection ««*■- public libraries,, not only on account <J «J, greater protection against fire, .but aw* to its more economical qualities. been recently a still further and one which is applicable to offices warehouses as readily as to hbranes■ this instance the shelves are »*»£» &■■ able, and the arrangement if™ use in a variety of forms. V: " frootf in the centre of a room, tr^WgufB s one part to the other, or plac wall with equal facility. » M-WJ, lutely indestructible, economical pation or space, and capable^^!^ extension. Moreover, it '^.^S&il interchangeable system,^^^gUt^ i improves = its value. ; Another hits e* 1 , I feature is that a whole rielf tents can be removed bodily'•niM™. m i ferine with or disturbing tb ® I this latter reason it has : 1 wi& officer aB»!»?Wr ;; I