ON SABBATH EYE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12445, 30 August 1902, Page 4

ON SABBATH EYE.

A COLUMN OP RELIGIOUS

READING

(Conducted by the Bev. F. W. Borsjam.)

THE LOVE THAT KNOWS. "It shall come to pass that before they call 1 will answer. Did you ask Him for the sunshine? Did you beg Him for the rain ? Last night did you implore him to give you one more dny? Oh, I know that you beseech Him to take away your pain; But what of all the blessings for wliioh you never pray? His gentle touch at nightfall, His morning kis3 at waking, Tho whisper of His -tenderness among the summer trees, i'ae bounding pulse of gladness, true love the heart-thirst slaking, And the common things of every day: you havo not asked for these. To have only that you ask for would be poverty indeed, But tho love of God looks onward—Love does not wait for prayer, And He ksd the blessings ready b&fore you felt the c&ed, For tho Father-heart is wonderful, ind swift His tender care. Doea mother wait to feed her child until she hoars it crying? Does not another know, Mid meet, the needs of his young boy? And God's great Jove, though strong' enough to train ue by denying. Answers the wish unspoken, and in sivin? finds its joy. You need His great redemption; the Father gave His Sob Before the world asked for Him, The heaven of our desire Was long ago Inade ready. The victory was

won Before ive faced the battle, or knew how fierce the fire. "I'was God, nnd not Ilia children, who thought of our salvation; When sin began in Eden His love was there before, And Christ became our Saviom, His death tho great oblation, To show the world tliat mercy keeps an ever open door. Dear heart, pray on for coulfort-; a holy thing

is prayer; It lifts the spirit upward td the very feet- of God, II fills the darkest lowlands with a breath of

mountain air, It brings a glad spring prophecy across the wintry sod. But the child who knows the Father Should

breathe in glad thanlf^iving, And sing'as do the angels for the very joy of praise, Should keep a Sabbath always, a festival of living, llecaiiEfl of all the unasked good with which God fills the days. UARUN.N'P Fakninchak.

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS IN RELIGION". A One-minute Sermon by tho Rev. AikX, Maolauax, D.D., Litt.D.

If we aro Christians at all, ;ve have to make a business of our religion; to go about it as if we meant work. Ah! what a contrast there is botwooli the languid way in which Christian men pursuo what the Bible designates their " calling" and that in which men wit-Is far paltrier aim? pursue theirs! And what a still sadder contrast there is between the way in which we Christians go about our daily business and tho way in which we go about our Christian life! Why, a mull will rake moro pains to learn some ornamental art or some game than ho will even' take to make himself a better Christian.- The one is work. What is tho other? To a very largo extent daw'dling make-believe. You remember tho old story, it may raiso a smilo, but- there should be a deep thought below the smile, of the little child that Kaid of his father that "lie Was u Christian, but he had not been working much at it lately." Do not laugh, ft L-j u great deal too true of —1 will not venture to say what percentage of—the professing Christians of this day. Work at your religion. Tliat- i? the great lesson of my text. Kndoavour with confid--01:00 of success. The Book of Proverbs

say?: "Ho that is slothful in his work is brother to liiin that is a great waster," and that is true. A man tlmt does tlio work of the I<ord negligently is scarcely to 'be credited with doing it at all. Dear friends, young and old, if you name tho name of Christ, be in earnest, and mak« earnest work of your Christian character.

And now may I venture ,to put two or three very plain exhortations? First, I would say, if you mean to make your Christian life a piece of genuine work and striving, tl' ; ' first thing that you have to do is to endeavour in the direction of keeping ita aim very rlear before you. There are many ways in which we may state the goal of tho Christian life, but let us put it now into tlio all-comprehensive form of likeness' to Jesus Christ, by entire conformity to Ilia example and full interpretation of His lifo. Ido not say " Heaven ": I say *' Christ." And endeavour next, to keep up communion With Jesus Christ, which is the secret of all peaceful and of all noble living. And endeavour next after concentration. And what docs that mean? It means that you have to detach yourself from hindrances. It means that you have to prosecute the ' Christian aim all through tho common thingn of Christian life. If it were not possible to be pursuing the great aim of likeness to Jesus Christ, in the veriest secularises of the ino.it insignificant and trivial occupations, then it would bo no use talking about that being our aim. If we are not • making ourselves more like Jo3U9 Christ by the way in which we handle our books, or our pen, or our loom, or our scalpel, or our kitchen utensils, then there is little chanco of our ever making ourselves like Jesus Christ. I'or it is these trifles that mako life, and to eonoertratc ourselves on tho pursuit of the Christian aim is, in other words, to carry that Christian aim into every .triviality of our daily lives. JOTTINGS. Tho following is quoted as illustrative o' i Bishop Ingram's pathetic and powerful use | of daily experience. He was speaking o£ Christ the Saviour in the hour of death. | '' Undor tho picture of the Virgin Mary in j a foreign church I onoe read the words, 1 Patroua Morientum,' the patron of the dying. But, thank God. tho true patron of the dying is Jesus Christ. Not long ago 1 was visiting in a London hospital a little gir,, the daughter of a clergyman, who lay V6ry near the end. fihe said to me. 1 1 want to tell you, Bishop, I am afraid of dying. 1 feel it coming nearer and nearer, and I am afraid.' I waited a minute, and prayed that tho right word might bo given me, and then I said, ' Would you be afraid to let mo carry you into the next room?' ' Oh, | no,' she replied. 'Then why should you ba : afraid,' I said, 'to let Somoono "Who is 10,000 time's kinder, and 10,000 times | stronger, carry you in His arms into His , other room?' The thought seemed to still ; her fears, and when I camo back next day tlicy told me she had never felt a moment's dread, but bad fallen into her lust sleep with her head on the shoulder of Jesus;' From the quiet of his sick ehambcr, the' Kev. Dr. Parker sent a timely .message to the service ot intercession for tho King, held in the City Temple on what should have been Coronation Day. His words should especially appeal to ministers of ;he Gospel:—"lf I rise again, and lam permitted to lift mv voico in public, 1 shall, be moro intensely and pathetically evangelical than ever. If I wero speaking v as a literally dying man, I would exhort mv brethren never to omit an opportunity of deeming tho infinite graoe and complete priesthood of Jesus Christ. I ioin with you all most heartily in praying for the King m this the midnight of his life. "Wlwn ho becomes the chief lay preacher of the nation, » 1^, andß will become true jewels of the BM. This reminds us of the desire of Dr Dale, of Birmingham. When looking kck upon a long and fruitful ministry, lie wrote: It seems to me sometimes that I am only just beginning to catch a faint glimpse of tlio glory and power of the redemption which bod has wrought for us through the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jeans Christ. If, through God's grace, I am allowed to preach 'for a few years longer, I pray that I may be able to serve you-if not with greater energy, for this I cannot hope for. yet with a clearer knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, and a, uoeper concern for your salvation than in the years which have gone by." Much surprise has been caused by the announcement. that tho committed of the Wesley,in Theological Institution have not nominated Dr Agar Beet for reappointment as Professor at RiehmoiM Colloge. It. ia • understood that the committee were influenced m their decision by doctrinal reasons connected with Professor" Beet's hooka on the Last Things" and "The Immortality ot the Soul. The view taken by Dr Beet himself, we understand, is that tho notion of the committee is an attempt to prohibit . m the Wesleyan Church the discussion of minor doctrines on which opinions differ.' He holds that this is the effective way to paralyse thought on these solmen but pressing matters.