"The Morning Cometh."

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XVIX, Issue 970, 4 March 1924, Page 2

"The Morning Cometh."

— ♦ [Part of sermon* delivered by Rev. A. Macdonald m the Presbytetian Church, Otautau, on 2nd March, 1924]. " Watchman, what of the night I Watchman, what of the night 1 The watchman said, The morning cometh and also the night."—lsaiah XXI (11-12). j ' After discoursing on the literal interpretation of the text, Mr Macdonald made the following timely reference. From the' words " The morning cometh" some may be expecting I have something to say on the second advent., Those who make a fad of that subject have a book called " The Herald of the Morning." They are always talking of the .morning as referring to the resurrection morning when the dead m Christ shall rise first. That's not the morning I wish to speak of, much as I believe m the first resurrection —the resurrection of God's saints. The morning I wish to speak of is the morning of prosperity after the night of adversity. The past ten years (1914-1924) have been like, a long dark night. How God deals m tens! "Three score years and ten, and if by reason of strength another ten —four score." Abraham's prayer for Sodom was much the same. He came do\xn from 50 ten by ton till at last he said, " Peradventure ten shall be found there. And God said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." We have had m the past 10 years a four years' wai-, called " The Great War"; after that "The Black Plague" for about a year, when as many died as died m. the war.; after that a black financial crisis when prices of primary products and stock were very low and many were ruined. During these.ten dark years we have cried, " Watchman, what of the night?" We have longed for the morning of prosperity and it has come. The wool sales, when splendid prices ruled, gave business a great impetus. With the abundance of money other things have revived. " Watchman, what of the night 1 The morning cometh."/ How true! The morning has come. -Let us rejoice m the goodness of God. We often sing: " And soon the night of weeping* Shall be the morn of song." We weep when the night is long and dark, we sing when the morning comes. And so with the past 10 black years, they have passed, and this year, 1924, has ushered m the morning of prosperity. We take courage; The watchman has replied: " The morning cometh "—yea has, come. a%TT7T» 3lrCTr^_£i| jWW past , \Q —years how often have you looked to me as a watchman. You have listened to hear if I had any message of cheer. The watchman must give a cheery reply to enquirers during the night. " The morning cometh," . During the 10 black years we have passed through church attendance diminished. People, often m their poverty, stay away from church. I sympathise with people staying away when they have scarcely enough to live on. But why blame the Minister for sparse attendance m a long black crisis. Ministers had nothing to do with the war, the plague, the financial crisis. These were things beyond their control, at the same time they were the causes by which many stayed away from church. Further, people have said of late, " The old church is big enough for all who attend it. We don't need a new church." Such people don't realise what it has been to hav^e a Minister stand by them all these past 10 years and preach to them the Gospel bf Hope —that though it is night, the morning will come. Now that the morning has coin© and our church attendance has vastly improved, I hope I shall hear no more of that pessimism that the old church is good enough and large enough. ' The morning of prosperity has come and you are back to church again. I rejoice to see you. It is hard to preach to a poor audience. Tf you were out on a dark night and something happened and you cried, for help and some one came with a lantern and helped you, surely you would be grateful, aye more grateful than to the man who smiled on you during the day when ali was well with you. I have stood here during these ten black years and cheered you and gone m aiid out among you and ministered to you. I am here having lived through theso years aud as a watchman I cry, " The morning has come." But though the^ morning has come, the day of prosperity is not to last always. " The morning cometh and also the night.'* Mr Massey hats uttered that warning and so has Mr Beauchamp. Don't be carried away with prosperity. "In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved) 0 Lord, Thou has made my mountain to stand strong." •' Let us walk honestly as m the day, not m rioting and drunkenness, not m chambering and wantonness,. not m strife and envying. But) put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lust thereof."