Sunday Reading.

Otago Witness, Issue 1244, 2 October 1875, Page 4

Sunday Reading.

CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST.

Sermon by Rev. W. H. Bellows, D.D.

His text was taken from Matthew xi., 28 30, beginni ig, " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

The preacher drew a picture of the fancies of childhood and the prospects of the youthful imagination, in contrast with ■which he pourtrayed the troubles, difficulties, aud disappointments, with their influence upon character, experienced by manhood in actual contact with the world. When man is obliged, he said, to assume the responsibilities of mature life, the grand panorama of his juvenile hopes becomes a dissolving view, vanishes from his Bight, and he is brought into «ctive contact with the stern realities of life. It is Baddeni;ig to the sensitive heart that these visions of childhood cannot be realised in this life. But the world does not disappoint us ha!f so much as we disappoint ourselves. We are led away by delusions of every description. There is an internal struggle to attain something that always eludes our grasp, and even when

people do, in a few instances, attain to a great height of ambition, and luxuriate in all the rounds of pleasure, this al-io proves very unsatisfactory aud jjaLLs upon the senses. We discover that success in this respect is a decided failure. Thus we live in a constant state of weariness. We find, after many years of ardent and unprofitable struggling, that we are in the humble and undignified position of picking up the crumbs from the feast, where we had hoped to be seated as honoured guests.

And this is the lamentable condition in which even those who lose their souls to gain the world find themselves after all their efforts. It is only through Christ, then, that the harassed and weary soul fl ads rest. In His promise far more than the brightest delusions aud hopes of childhood are realized. And they have to be received in the spirit of childhood, too, as we are told in another part of the chapter from which the text ia taken — "These things have been hidden from the wise ' and prudent and revealed unto bibes." Christ never explains the reasons for these things, never guea into the philosophy of the question ; to him that does not seem at all necessary. His teaching is natural and simple, as easily understood by the illiterate as the learned. The sun does not shiue for astronomers alone. There are thousands of natural Christians in whom confidence and faith supply the place of light and vision, and thus they find rest unto their souls. This sort of confidence also gives us happiness in this life. There is nothing, perhaps, that affords the mind and body more agreeable relaxation and rest than a sea voyage. There is perhaps no place where a man can rest all his faculties better than at sea, and this is the reason why so many of our statesmen, bank? managers, and others, who are exhausted by mental labour, usually prefer this mode of rest. 3tfow, carrying out our simile, the less we know of navigation, the concerns of the ■hip, and the captain, ths more we enjoy our trip, for we have no responsibility. All we want to know is that the captain is a good one, and thatthe slu'p is seaworthy. We thus escape the cares of any further details, and enjoy perfect rest. This is an illustration of the mode of Christ's teachiug., He assures his people that He is the captain of their salvation, and that they are safe, but enters into no disquisition as to why God has doie all this for them, and made all these promises Bure. He spent no time cleariuj; away doubts ; but simply told them to trust God. And is this not reason ? Does the mother explain the economy of her housekeeping and the contents of her medicine chest to her young child? Chiist did not reason like a sage, and philosophize with the weary and heavy hearts that came to him but t-sok them to His spiritual arms as He did littJe children to His fleshy arais, requesting them to lean on Him and they should find rest for their souk. "What Christ illustrated in this was that faith is n-?t opposed to but beyond reason. It is believing against evidence that constitutes the infinite peculiarity and enables man to rise above the law of gravitation like a spiritual bird. Christ's plan of impiiing others with faith was not by miracles alone, but by truthfulness, kindness, and love. By these attributes aud an augelie sointthing, He attracted His disciples and inspired them with the power of the gospel, which has shed its benign influence over the world. In like manner, we cannot reason on the subject how God can look upon sin, or sympathise with the sinner, but "we know it is so, and the more we feel our condemnation, the nearer we are to God. The fact of this doctrine was clearly deuwnstiated by God's Son sympathising with man, and "being tried in allpoinia as we art-, yet without sin." To this stato of peifi cli'>n, however, man can never attnin. tiin may be cultivated to a vuy refined point, fo that it may be difficult to port-eivd, and be to most peoplo invisible, but it is just a3 had then as when it ia exposed m all its hideous deformity. •

\\hy, then, did Christ promulgate His doctrine without giving reasons 1 Because He was a character tii.it could not be explained by any human experience. He tilled His Apostles with the power and influence of His divine personality, forcing His followers to the conclusion that He was the very Son of God. He spoke as one having authority from the

highest source, and consequently was ' under no necessity to give reasons for His doctrine.