GOING TO THE FATHER.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XIII, Issue 1000, 15 May 1903, Page 3

GOING TO THE FATHER.

A year or two ago some of the greatest and choicestnvndaof England laboured, in the pages of one of the magazines, to answer the question, 441s Life woifch living?" It was a triumph for religion, some thought, that the keenest intellects of the nineteenth century should be stirred with themes like this. It was not so; it was the surest proof of the utter heathenism of our age. "; Is life worth living •?" As well ask, ", Is air worth breathing ?" The real question is this—ls it worth w.nile going to the Father ? Life has been defined as a going to the Father. It is quite clear that there must come a time in the history of all those who live this life when they reach 'the Father. This is the most glorious moment of life. Angela attend it. Those on the other side must hail the completing of pnother soul with ineffable rapture. Qn4Bis side we call that Death. It means reaching the Father. It is no departure, it is arrival ;• not sleep, but waking. For life to tho3e who live Kke Christ is-not a funerel procession.. It is a triumphal march to the Father. And the entry at the last in God's own chariot is the best hour of a r. '-. ■■■<■■

" Going to. the Father "—there are three classes to whom these words coriie home with,pe".iliaremphasis:— 1. They speak 5 those who are staying away from Gtod. "I do not wonder at .what men suffer," says fsuskin, " j wonder often at what l£y fellow pilgrim you 4o not know what you are losing by not going t? the Father. ¥our i; fein an appaling mystery. You have; nothing to explain yqiv tffe, nor to sustain it; no boxiridai/- i;ne en the dim horizon to complete it. "When life is" done your are going to leap into the dark. You will cross the dark river and land on the fin-her* shore, alone, No one w.'" 1 gt-eetyou. You and the inhabitants of Eternity will be strangers. TV Z ll you not today arise and go to your Father ? 2. They speak next to a ll God's people. Let us remember that we are going to the Father. Even now are we the Sons of God. Oh, let us live like it—more simple, inc&inplaining, useful, separate, joy ail as those who march, with music, yet sober as those who are to company with Christ. The road is heavy, high road and low road, but we shall soon be home. God grant us a sure arrival in ov* Father's house.

3. And this voice whispers yet one more message to the mourning. Did Death end a' 1 ? Is it well wilh the child ? It is well. The last inn by the roadside has boen passed—that is all, and a voice called to us, "Goodb ! ItoFather."

ye go my Henjjiy Drummoi^d.