THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3512, 5 July 1921, Page 51

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR. No. 410. By Duncan Weight, Dunedin. THE PATH OF LABOUR Never in a costly palace did I rest on golden, bed, Never in a hermit’s cavern, have I eaten little bread. V Born in a lowly stable where the cattle lowed He stood, Trained a carpenter in Nazareth, I have toiled and found 1 it good. They who tread the path of labour, follow where My feet have trod; They who work without complaining do the holy will of God. "Where the many toil together, there am I among My own; "Where the tired workman deepeth, there am 1 with him alone. , I, the peace that passeth kmswledge, dwell amid the daily strife, I, the Bread of Heaven, am broken in the sacrament of life. —Henry Van Dyke. TESTIMONIES FROM THE PALACE. - Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria, who reigned fcr over 60 years on Britain’s Throne and was beloved by all her subjects, gathered around her many godly persons. One day when asked by an aged dying retainer on the Balmoral Estate if she would meet her in the Paradise of God, the Queen replied, “Yes, dear, by the grace of God and the all-availing Blood of Christ, I’ll meet you there.’’ ■ —Queen Victoria’s Physician.— Sir Andrew Clark, Queen Victoria’s physician the most skilled and honoured doctor of his time, gave this testimony to the only remedy for human misery: “There is ono remedy, and that remedy is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Queen Victoria’s Chancellor. Earl Cairns, Britain’s greatest Lord Chancellor, once said to an audience of working men, “Every day I rise with a sweet consciousness that God loves me and cares for me. He has pardoned all my sins; and His Spirit reveals to me that this i« but the beginning of a joy which is to last through all eternity.”

ONE CLEAR CALL. My son, -when you stand looking .right and! left, Uncertain, tortured, which way you should go, So that your very soul in two seems cleft, Your will a leaf in all the winds that blow ; Then check the mill race of your thoughts and strain No more through tears the rightful course to see, But. listen, intent, with a quiet brain For the one faithful whisper, “Follow Me.” When you stand doubting in the storm of life, Troubled and harassed how a man should act. So that your brain is nothing but a strife, To tear away the lie, and face the fact; Then from the loud contention diraw apart No longer beat your brain for a decree. But wait with patience and a peaceful heart For the unerring whisper, “Follow Me.” There is no darkness on His road to light, ho doubt in hearts that follow where He leads, Each step makes clearer still the True and Right, Each act prepares the way for greater deeds; All’s well! The lightnings and the thunder cease, The sky is fair, the stars no longer dim. Heart, mind, and soul at last have lasting peace, And the man says, assured, I follow Him. —Haroid Begbie, in “My Magazine.” ANOTHER GRAND TESTIMONY! John Newton, of Olney, was saved from a life of shame. He had been an infidel, a libertine, a blasphemer, but the grace of God found him and eternally saved him. These verses are his testimony; read them through—and then sing them. They go to the same C.M. tune as his other sorm of praise, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.” Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost,, hut now am found, Was blind, hut now I see. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares T. have already come; ’Tis grace lias brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within tho vail A life of joy and peace.

A GOOD BISHOP ON THINGS TO GOME. I believe that when the end conies, it will find the earth in much the same state as when the Flood came in tho days of Noah. I believe that the widespread unbelief, indifference, formalism, and wickedness are things distinctly predicted. I believe that the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is the great event which will wind up the present dispensation, and for which we ought daily to long and pray. I believe that the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will be a real, literal, personal, bodily coming; and that, as He went away in the clouds of ITcaven before the eyes of men, so in like manner He will return. I believe that, after our Lord Jesus Christ conies again, the earth shall be renewed and the curse removed ■ the devil shall be bound; the godly shall be rewarded, the wicked shall be punished; and that before He comes there will be no Millennium, and that not until after He comes shall the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. I believe that the literal sense of Old Testament prophecies is far too much neglected at the present day, and that the Roman Catholic Church 'is the great predicted Apostasy from the faith. Finally, I believe that all true Christians ought to expect as little as possible from churches or governments under the present dispensation, to hold themselves ready for tremendous convulsions, and to expect their good things only from Clirkt’s Second Advent.—J. C. Ryle. THE CHILD’S VERSION. A storv is told of the little girl who came happily home from Sunday School with something she had learned. “I know all about Enoch, now,” she said. “Well, what do you know?” smilingly asked an older member of the household. She was eager with her recital, hexvivid fancy translating what she had heard into the story language of childhood that made it at once simple and real. “Enoch was a good man, and one day God came to his house and said, ‘Enoch, would you like to walk with Me to-day?’ And Enoch said, ‘Yes, I would.’ So they went walking together, and God showed him a great many beautiful things that he had never seen before. The next day God came again and asked him ‘Will you walk with Me this day?’ And He led him along another way, where he saw more wonderful things. Every day it was like that, and every day Enoch went walking with God where he had never been before, and God showed him new and beautiful things that he had never seen. Then one day he grew tired, and God saw it. He said, ‘You have walked with Me a great many days, and now you are tired, aren’t you?’ And Enoch said ho was. Then God told him, ‘You needn’t go all the way back to your home, you can come to My home and rest.’ So God took Enoch home with Him.” We pray that we may walk with the Lord, but how seldom we grasp the real meaning of that phrase as clearly as the little child in her literalness—a daily happy fellowship, guidance in untried paths, increase of knowledge with each step of the way, and at last the peaceful going home with Him to rest. — Selected. EASY TO DRIFT. Easy to drift to the open sea, The tides are eager .and swift and strong, And whistling and! free are tho rushing winds— But oh! to get back is hard and long. Easy as told in Arabian tale, To free from this jar the evil sprite, Till he rises like' smoke to stupendous size— But oh! nevermore can we prison him tight. Easy as told in an English tale, To fashion a Frankenstein, body and soul, And breathe in his bosom a breath of life— But oil! we create when we cannot control. Easy, to drift to the sea of doubt. Easy to hurt when we cannot heal, Easy to rouse when we cannot soothe, Easy to speak when we do not feel, Easy to show what we ought to conceal, Easy to think that fancy is fate— And oh! the wisdom that comes too late. —Oliver liuckel, D.D. PRODIGAL IN LODGING HOUSE. A good many years ago, when the late Rev. Hugh Price Hughes and Josiah Nix were holding meetings together, they received a letter from a broken-hearted mother in the country, entreating them to find her erring son, who had left his wife and family and come to London about 12 months previously. “We have not heard from him,” slio wrote, “but wc have heard of him. W 7 e have heard that he is living in a common lodging-house. If you find him, don’t waste any time in fixing him nip. Tell him his brokenhearted mother is waiting to see him, and send him home on the first train.” The missioners visited many of tho common lodging-houses, aiid talked to the inmates concerning the salvation of their souls. In one of these houses they saw a tall man, lying stretched out upon a bench. They approached him, and began to talk to him concerning his soul, but he drove them away with curses. At last one of the missioners noticed his resemblance to the photograph which had been sent to them by the mother who wished them to find her son. Ho went up to the man, and, laying hi,s hand on him, said : “We have a message for you from your mother.” The man sprang to his feet, exclaiming: “Don’t you mention my mother’s sacred name in this unholy place!” They then showed him the photograph, and he recognised it. Turning it over, they said : “Do you know whose handwriting this is?” When he saw his mother’s handwritingon the back of the photograph, he broke down and wept. They then delivered his mother’s message to him, and sent him home on the first train. His mother had been notified by telegraph, and was on

the platform waiting for him. Although the railway officials knew her, she did not stop for that, but ran and threw her arms round the neck of her wayward and ragged son, and kissed him—right on the platform before all the people. MYSELF. I have to live with * myself, and so I want to be fit fox myself to know; I want to be able, as days go by, Always to look myself straight in. the eye; I don. t want to stand with the setting sun, And hate myself for the things I’ve done. I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf, A lot of secrets about myself, And fool myself, as I come and go, Into thinking that nobody else will know. The kind! of man I really am; I don’t want to dress up myself in sham. I want to go out with my head erect, I want to deserve all men’s respect; But here in the struggle for fame and pelf I ‘vva.nt to lx> able to like myself; I don’t want to look at myself and know That I m bluster and bluff and empty show. I never cun hide myself from me; I see what others may never see; I knew what others may never know; I never can fool myself, .and so, Vv hatever happens I want to be and conscience free. Edgar A Guest, in “Security News.”