SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15551, 7 March 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

THE ART OF HEALING. . . , BY THE JIEV. A. E. .TOMUS. , . " Gifts of healing." ,L . Corinthians 12. 1 28. "The gift 'of healing!" von - say? '• j-i; " Yes." " But I cannot heal.' Perhaps '. Si not,: in • the ' generally accepted use of - the " " : > term but" in other ways "you may; and y it is to point out these other ways that l'Tcf pen. these lines. •- - . - We will introduce the subject by'say- , ing that the-deepest wounds' of ' life are\vf. no.i physical; that life's worst gashes ares'}. not,of .the" body, and that the sorest etabs i; are often '.beyond' the surgeon's. skill' to heal. 1 Life's most painful wounds are of ? v the heartland it is the ministry ofstheM§ healing of the heart's sores that I write these lines, in the .'hope' that the • reader may become really : proficient. We ■-musfc.|§§g cultivate • ' . 'nj§|ll 1. The Healing Gift of a Gracious For- V'giving Nature. . The way to heal toeing; wound, , torn .some cutting word—is.toTfgl forgive! As long, as the bitter feeling is cherished, and the piercing word is . uh-fH'lf forgiven- the gash is likely to ' remain the, V ragged, open, gaping thing that it already is. The most potent means ■to close it up again is to let bygones be bygones," ",'l i and to drown them in the deepest depths 3 of foregiveness and forgetfulness. *■ Do you think . you can be a .healer .of that order? . . .' . Let me. suggest - 3 where you may get your education for the j"i exercise of such an art. It is at the place called : "Calvary:" It "is there, too, 1: " where you may find your inspiration; for the art is both' difficult and trying. -It is 1 as you stand "beneath the* Cross of Jesus " that you become moved to forgive your injured ; brother," and win him back - • - again into the relationship of yore.. . - | "I . never ' forgive," said General .Oglethorpe one day to Wesley. "Then," replied the great evangelist, " I hope you never sin." ?! 2.. The Gift of a Sympathetic Passion. • > Not only are rents made by uhkiadnesses , | and hurtful words and deeds, but some- _■ "j times the heart "breaks" by reason of ') the burden of the sorrows and sadnesses of life. Sometimes it is well 'nigh crushed, because it has had to " kiss the i cross," or carry it day by day. Would you like to be of the orde'r that binds up the broken-hearted, crushed by the crosses J and calamities of life? Then, if so, culti- ' .| \ate the art of a sympathetic, loving com- f: passion. . That was the type of com pas- ' % sion that Jesus exercised. As Dr. Horton has put" it: "Christ did not'weep for . % the sorrowful sisters of BethanyHe wept y with them." The professional weeper will weep " for " a person, but not neces- i sarily "with"— the result that his weeping lacks heart, soul, depth! One readily detects all —that it is not the mourning of active, actual, sympathetic association. The tears are stage-tears, void of real love and sympathy. But when Jesus wept, He wept with and not merely for. Let us seek to heal, by coming into real sympathetic contact with those whose tears flow fast, and whose hearts are heavy and sore. 3. The Gift of a Peace-making Disposition. Unfortunately, the world needs peace-makersmen and women who bind up the broken-hearted," broken by ' strife, quarrel, and division; men and omen who _ bring together again wounded parties in tender and loving em brace; who pour oil on troubled waters and bid stormy tempests cease. These are the kind of men the world sorely requires. Not "peace-breakers" but "peace- ; makers. ' Peace-makers in our Houses of 1 arliament, on our ( town councils, on our jj boards, in our homes, in our churches, and 1 in our streets. Peace-makers every- f, where ! By Milling tempests, and quieting •{ quarrels you may become one of the physi- J| cians of the world. S? i A pleasait and easy ministry it is not fi likely to be. _ Physically speaking, with ijf certain exceptions, the work of healing •"/ cannot be pleasant. Healing implies 4| gashes, wounds, fractures, bruises, and, ._jjg therefore, to the majority such work can- -Jjg not be pleasant. It is work for men of .JS neij.-e, skill, and love. It certainly is not a light work to bind up hearts broken with strife, envy, ind 3B passion; to intervene between quarrelling parties; to settle dispu'.es, and to rectiiv wrongs.' But, when accomplished, it is a fgp| gracious ministry, worthy of angels as of men. ' " gpSI

\ May. God-make us all skilful in the art of healing the wounds that afflict the souls of our fellow-men J ,