SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 73

SUNDAY READING.

Clergymen and all interested in religions work are invited to send news items and other contributions suitable fox* publication in this column to “Mizpah," care of Editor “New Zealand Mail," Wellington. •• \ '

THE STREAM OF LIFE.

(By a Banker.)

How. varied is the. experience of the children of earth of that stream down which all are voyaging. Some find it to be a turbulent, stormy current, ever agitated by contending eddies, and swirling rapids, or convulsed by foaming billows and surging, wind-driven breakers. To some it is a dull, leaden stream, inertly flowing ever on, torpid, sluggish, and monotonous, its murky surface doleful, . gloomy, and cheerless, without change,' dull'and joyless. But to multitudes of others it is a joyous stream, ever bright and sparkling, ever splendent in a shimmer of glad sunshine, flowing midst the loveliest of surroundings through bun-lit, flower-bedecked glades, ferny banks, and tree bordered reaches and vistas.

And as we; lbok upon any great assemblage, young, and old, rich and poor, we sometimes give xein to the imagination and conjecture how he or she is travelling .down that varying and cflangeful stream. Here is a man past middle-age whose life has evidently been a failui-e. Apparently he understands not the joy of existence, and has no conception of the zest and ecstasy of life, for his brow is furrowed and careworn, and not a ray of hope gleams from those mournful and doleful ‘eyes. Here and there are couples evidently affianced, who have plighted their troth each to the other, and, , full of hope, i are about to sail hand in hand together down, the stream of life ; some youthful and in the early spring of existence; others, she in tixe.noontide of her beauty, he arrived at middle age, in The very prime of life, when the emotions of the heart are more fervid and more ardent than in early youth, and the experience is more matured. And doubtless they all, as they look down the long vista of that stream, picture to themselves a prospect of unalloyed, buoyant happiness, each aiding the other in. the great coldest of the battle of life; each sharing the joys and assuaging the sorrows of the other.

And here are others; some, smart, no doubt, hut, judging from appearances — which perchance may happily belie—-liv-ing only for pleasure, and, unless they alter, whose departure hence will not leave the* world at all the poorer; and others, large- hearted, liberal philanthropists and benefactors, whose chief pleasure in life is to raise and benefit their fellows. But these are but a few amongst that vast crowd of all sorts and conditions. And amongst them all, those who will derive the greatest amount of joy and .pleasure in their journey down that stream of life are they who, doing their utmost to live in accordance with the Divine precepts, have with the aid of the Holy Spirit laid their sins upon Him who Himself bore the punishment due for them. For they know for certain that when they cross over that other stream, the cold stream of death, the outstretched hand of the Saviour will welcome them as they step on to 1 the bright shore of the glory-land, where, for ever and for ever, will be their joyous inheritance.