THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3523, 20 September 1921, Page 50

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR. No. 421. By Duncan Weight, Dunedin. SNAP SHOTS. There is no failure except in censing to try. r l hou, too, shalt be old. Be wise in season. God lays His axe at the root, man at the branch. The worth of any testimony depends upon tlie witness. Morrison's Motto: Fidelity, Perspicuity, and Simplicity. The best interpreter of the love of God is the love of man. Shun a sorrow or a joy and you are clipped, maimed, blinded. Let a man do his work; the fruit of it is the care of another than he. After all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain ! If one has to do something it is simple imbecility not to do it well. The ladder that connects earth to heaven also brings heaven to earth. No mail can keep his own soul alive who is not trying to save other souls. The worst man may grieve for his smart, only the good man for his offence. To be in contact with spiritual reality is not to be out of contact with passing fact. Christianity is a life that demands for its expansion the whole world of activities. London Christian. Graco and peace, and glory yonder, Where my Lord is gene before! Grace and peace whilst here 1 wander, Glory there for evermore! Boundless grace! exhaustlesa treasure! Everlasting as the word; Vaster wealth than thought can measure, Richer far ihan ear hath heard!. Perfect pence! complete salvation! Purchased with the price of blood; Freed are we from condemnation 111 the risen Son of God.

Glory I bright beyond the telling E’en of an archangel’s voice! Glory! in the Father’s dwelling, AVhere the children all rejoice. Grace and peace, and glory yonder, where my Lord has gone before! Grace and peace .whilst here 1 wander, Glory there for evermore! THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING. The fe 1 township of His sufferings.—Phil, iii. . Almost every religion except Christianity has sought to make man contented and happy by limiting his power to suffer. But Christ taught that only by exposure to sorrow and suffering can man find true development and expression of all his powers and faculties. One of the great factors in all spiritual development is not merely doing Gods will, but discovering that will, ’the Divine Teacher bids us grapple with the problem, face the challenge, breast the storm, fight tlie enemy, right the wrong, brave the danger. We need not ask ourselves: What is°a!l our suffering working in us. Are we growing bitter, cold, and cynical, or is it making our soul sensitive and sympathetic? Is it sending us back and' back till we rest on the heart of the Eternal? Then no sorrow of our heart, no pang of pain, no throb of suffering is lost; each has a fellowship with Christ’* suffering.—'W. L. Waights. BISHOP SPROTT, when consecrating a new Anglican Church at Makara (Wellington) lately, said ‘Many people in these days have given up the habit of public worship, and I think, for ourselves and for our fellowmen. it is a great wrong. I cannot understand why people should not desire to get more and more knowledge of God. One reason for our coming here is that we may learn more and more about God our Father. Is not it a very strange thing that we should not care to learn as much as we can about our Creator, in Whom we live and move and have our being? And then you know that here we learn or help to realise that there is another world than this. This is the House of God, a refuge in (his world of ours, with all its sadness, difficulties, and trials, and death, where we learn there is another higher, purer, and truer world. We rob ourselves of a great deal when wo give up the habit of going to church. There are .ilagp the common sorrows and trials in life, and we ought to come here so that we may keep in closer touch with the Divine Consoler, who understands and sympathises and is touched with tho sufferings of our lives. I think, too, that we do our fellow-men a great wrong by giving up the habit of worship—knowing w<\ ought to feel more in common, we should meet around the feet of the common Father. That is what the world wants to-day. There are too many sorrows and antagonisms. What we want is something to bring men together, and I know nothing that could do it more readily than a return to the old Christian custom of united worship in God’s House.” BEDE. A fair-haired boy, lie loved the silent place Where grey, cold walls were warders of that song "Whose even Latin cadence lingered long Within his heart. When prayer and fast gave space, His eager, steady fingers learned to trace The letters done in blue and gold along The vellum pages, while the dark-robed throng Passed by, unseen, before bis glowing face. A silver-haired beautiful old man, With vehement desire he lingered still To master some abstruse old Latin page. Still seeking fact, our first historian, He laboured on with changeless heart and will, The foremost scholar of his learned age. THE GREATEST DAW IN THE WORLD. Love is the divine law of life. Love somebody; help somebody; lift up somebody ; bless somebody. This i 3 the divine law. Live not unto yourself alone. Forget your selfish schemes. Get out of the narrow shell of your egotism. Brighten the lives of those around you. Make sweeter the cup for some other of God’s children. With bonds of affection, of patriotism, and of brotherhood, Love unites the family, the nation, and the race. It is the soul of the social system. It is the regenerating power of the world. Love for God and man is the soul of religion. Take love out of it, and you have left a theological husk, a mere creed. It is a dead thing, for love gave it life. Love for country, for the flag', for a principle, is what makes men heroes and martyrs. It is the motive force that impels !he true statesman. It is the Light that illuminates all the great and good. Genuine love can be told from the spurious in this way. The spurious thinks only of self, and demands sacrifice from others. The genuine is ready to sacrifice self for the happiness of others.—“ Cries of Light.” His mercy enduretli for ever.—Psalm cxxxvi, 1. Another great temple song, of which this phrase is the burden. It is introduced every time with a call to praise. All the rest of the song consists of illustrations of the truth which are reasons for praise. The opening stanzas refer to 1 he One to Whom reference is made throughout by the three great names by which he was known; Jehovah, the title of grace (v. 1) ; Elohim, the name of might (v. 2) ; and Adonai, the title of sovereignty (v. 5). The fact concerning this supreme One which called for the song was that of Ilis continued loving kindness. Were I a musician I would set this song to music for antiphonal singing by quartette and chorus. There are six-and-twenty stanzas, which fall into eight groups —six of three verses each, and two of four. The first four groups should he sung, as to the introductory words, by the four soloists in turn ; tlie second two

groups by duet—the first, contralto and soprano; the second, tenor and bass; the last' two groups by the four voices. Throughout the great refrain, “For It is mercy endureth for ever,” should be sung by the full chorus. This is the suggestion of an amateur. Let the professionals correct and amend the proposal. Let the ordinary reader forgive the method of the note. It is caused by the writer’s sense of the greatness and glory of the one theme of the loving kindness of God, which persists unto the ages; and by his conviction that it needs the consecration of music to give it adequate interpretation. SOMEBODY’S MOTHER. The woman was old, and ragged, and grey, And bent with the chill of the winter’s day; The street was wet with the winter’s snow, And- the woman’s feet were aged and slow. She 6tocd at the crossing and waited long, Alone, uncared for, amid the throng Of human beings, who passed her by, Nor heeded the glance of her anxious eye. Down the street with laughter and shout, Glad in the freedom of school let out, Came the boys like a flock of sheep, Hailing the enow piled white and deep. Past the woman so old and grey Hastened the children on their way, Nor offered a helping hand to her, So meek, so timid, afraid to stir Lost the carriage wheels or the horses’ feet Should crowd her down in the slippery street. At last came one of the merry troop, The gayest laddie of all the group. He paused beside her. and whispered low, “I’ll help you across if you wish to go”; Her aged hand on his strong young arm She placed, and without hurt or harm He guided the trembling feet along, Proud that his own wore firm and strong. Then back again to his friends he went, His young heart happy and well content, “She’s somebody's mother, boys, you know, A Itho’ ehe’s old, and poor, and slow; And I hope some fellow will lend a hand To- help my mother, you understand, If ever she’s old. and. poor, and grey. When her own dear hoy is far away.” And “somebody's mol her” bowed low her head j In her home that night, and the prayer I she sa : d "Was, “God be kind to the noble boy, Who is somebody’s hope, and pride, and joy-”