THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3277, 3 January 1917, Page 52

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET nOUR. No. 175. By Duncan Wuioiit, Dunedin. A MOTTO FOR 1917. GLADNESS! JOY! AND SONQI To all readers of the Otago Witness may the year 1917 be one of real gladness and song I Yes, inspito of the dark and cloudy times through which wo are passing! Let us hope 1 that victory to our arms is near, and peace is at hand for all the distressed and distracted nations of the earth! How would the following do for a keynote? Beyond all dispute every member of the great universal family is, to some extent, his own architect and his own builder. Do you follow me? Do you endorse this sentiment? If not too late, The Garland offers all good wishes for the days that are yet to be! Concerning joy—Christian joy— is a notable utterance by Talmage: "There ought to be room on everyman's face to write the words, ' Praise ye tho Lord.' " And again: "If there are not enough glad tidings ahead of us, we had better turn round and go the other way. If we think the grapes of Canaan sour, better go back and eat onions in Egypt. There may be tough battles yet before us, but, with Pharaoh's host gone under, I think Miriam can risk the clapping of one pair of cymbals." How does that read for 1917? But is not the great preacher as cautious as a Scot? He does not dogmatically assert "there is room," but only this: "There ought to be room to write on everyman's face, ' Praise ye the Lord.' ' In his clear ringing message he puts in a. good word for Miriam, and indirectly for all women workers. Does he not? Now if any young people read this message will they please tell me about Miriam ? Where do we read about her? W T hat was her special gift, and how did she use it? Name her famous brothers. At what age did she die? Have readers of the Witness seen women using cymbals? When? Where? A WOMAN'S TRUST AND SONG. "Good wife, what are you ainging for? You know we have lost the hay; And what we'll do with horse and kyo is more than I can say." She looked up with a pleasant face, and answered low and sweet: "There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel, we cannot see; We've aye been provided for, and we shall always be." H© turned round with sullen gloom. She said: "Love, be at rest; You cut the grass, worked soon and late—you did your very best. That waa your work; you've nought at all to do with wind and rain, And do not doubt but you will reap rich fields of golden grain; For there's a Heart, and there's a Hand, wo feel, we cannot see! We've aye been provided for, and we shall always be!" "That's like a woman's reasoning—wo must because we must." Site softly said: "I reason not; I only work and trust The harvest may redeem the hay; keep heart whate'er betide; When one door's shut, I've always found another open wide. There is a Heart, there is a Hand, wo feel,

we cannot see; We've aye been provided for, and wo shall always be." He kissed the calm and trustful face, gone was his restless pain; She heard him with a cheerful step go whistling down the lane, And. went about her household tasks a 3 to and fro she went; "There is a Heart, there is a Hand, wo feel, wc cannot see; We've aye been provided for, and wo shall always he!" Speaking only of your personal knowledge, tell mo: How' many changes took place during the past year among your own circle of friends, neighbours, and acquaintances? Ah me I you ai-e not quite sure. Be perfectly certain of this, however : As many changes will occur during 1917, and whether we believe or reject the affirmation, the great fact stares us in the fact that unless we humbly trust in God and in His Son Jesus Christ the path will be thorny an ddark enough, and no solid joy can cheer you day by day. Whate'er the unknown future bo My soul, O God, shall trust in Thee. To many the providence of the Almighty has been, and to this hour is, an inscrutable mystery, both deep and dark, and no impious hand may tear aside ruthlessly the curtain which in mercy hides the future from our gaze. To you and to me come the words of the wise man: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and Ho shall direct thy paths." How many of your dearest ones on earth have been called away? How many have passed through deep sorrow which all but overwhelmed the soul? flow many homes were darkened by death? -Ml these crushing experiences will bo repeated this year, and the years that are to be. Let God's sweet joy fill, flood and permeate the scnl, and then all will be well. Bright is the golden sun above, And beautiful the flowers that bloom; And all is joy and all is love, Reflected from the world to come. 'dr james 'Hamilton/ whose name as preacher and author is well known, puts iu a plea for joy and gladness thus : "Rejoice with a rejoicing universe. Rejoice with the morning stars, and lot your adoring spirit march to the music of hymning spheres. Rejoice with the joyful spring, in its gush of hope, and its dancing glory, with its swinging insect clouds and its suffusion of multiduinous songs; and rejoice with golden autumn as

lie rustles his grateful sheaves and claps liis purple hands, as he breathes his story of fruition and his anthem of promises fulfilled, as he breathes it softly in tlie morning stillness (A ripened tio!ds or llings it in /Tlolian sweeps fmin lavi.--h orchards and from branches tossing bounty into tossing winds." Don't make a mistake. The man who has an experience of this sort, and uses such chaste language concerning the joy and gladness which rightly belong to every true Christian, is no hireling, and is no false teacher, but is a saint, a seer, and a true servant of Jehovah. Manifestly these high experiences as set forth by Dr James Hamilton can only be understood and appreciated by devout men and women. The formalist is hopelessly and absolutely out of it, and he is a wiso man who frankly confesses and acknowledges to the Searcher of all hearts, and to no other, the stupendous and humbling fact. Our life is scarce ilio twinkle of a star In God's eternal clay. Obscure and dim With mortal clouds, it vet may beam for Him, Aad darkened here, shine fair io spheres afar. I will be patient, lest my sorrow bar His grace and blessing, and I fall supine, In my own hands my want and weakness are, My strength, O God, is Thine. The words I next quote are Fabers: ''There are souls in the world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere they go. Their influence "is an inevitable gladdening of the heart. These bright hearts Ttave a great work to do for God.' Victor Hugo said : "God can add nothing to the happiness of those who love, except giving them endless duration. . . . God is the fulness of heaven, love is the fulness of man." What did Father Taylor, the Boston sailor-preacher, mean when, on going out to make a call, said to his host on the doorstep: ''Laugh till I get back." In view of what we read in God's Book, where in joy—exuberance of real joy—is not only allowed, but is set forth and i 3 almost commanded, your personal opinion, or my opinion really count for nothing. The pages of the Old Book actually bristle with the words, "joy," "great joy," "joyful," "joyfulness," "joyous." All this joy and gladness come, to believing men and women, the wide world over. When writing this message I am not forgetful of the fact that in no case does it follow that 1917 may bring joy—and only joy—because there may be for some a cup full to the brim of deepest sorrow. Many persons who began 1916 full of hopo and gladness are, at this moment plunged in grief and tears, and have passed through very deep waters. Joy came to me with winsome radiant face, Ah, if I had been wiso To see beneath her veil of joyous grace Her sou! of sacrifice! Instead, her robe, with selfish hands I grasped And strovo to make her stay: In vain; my greedy finsrers she unclasped And, sighing, wont her way. Then sorrow came, and paused beside my door; Trembling, I feared to see Her face; but wiser, humbler than before, T waited patiently, Her hand is mine, along the path of pain, Lo! with Joy's very voice She spoke: ''Who so loses self finds me again ; Henceforth tlion slialt rejoice." Samuel Rutherford wrote: "Think you it will be a small honour to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, and be clothed in white, and be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and to be led to the 'fountains of living waters.' and to come to the well-head, even God Himself, and get your fill of the clear, cold, sweet, refreshing water of life—the King's own well—and to put up your hand to the tree of life, and take down and eat the sweetest apple in all God's heavenly Paradise —Jesus Christ, your life and your Lord ? Up, your heart! Shout for joy! Your King is coming to fetch you to HLs Father's house."