THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 64

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR. No. 560.

By

Duncan Wright, Dunedin.

WITS’ END CORNER. Are you standing at “Wits' End Corner, 1 Christian with the troubled brow, Are you thinking ol what- is before you. And all you are bearing now ? Does all the world seem against you, And you in the battle alone? Remember —at “Wits’ End Corner,” Is just where. God’s power is shown. Are you standing at “Wits’ End Corner,” Blinded with wearying pain, Feeling yon cannot endure it, You cannot bear, the strain, Bruised Through the constant suffering, Dizzy, and dazed, and numb? Remember—to “Wits’ End Corner" Is where Jesus loves to cornel” Are you standing at “Wits’ End Corner,” Your work before you spread, All lying begun, unfinished, Longing for strength to do it, Stretching out trembling hands? Remember —at “Wits’ End Corner” The Burden-Bearer stands. Are you standing at “Wits’ End Corner,” Yearning for those you love, Longing and praying and watching. Pleading their cause above, Trying to lead them to Jesus, Wond’ring if you’ve been true ? He whispers, “at ‘Wits’ End Corner,’ ‘l’ll win them, as I won you!’” Are you sta,nding at “Wits’ End Corner,” Then you’re just on the very spot To learn the wondrous resources Of Him who faileth not! No doubt 'to a brighter pathway Your footsteps will soon be moved, But only at “Wits’ End Corner” Is “the God Who is able” proved! —Antoinette Wilson. A little more kindness and a little less greed, A little more giving and a little less grief, A little more smile and a little less frown, A little less kicking a man when he is down, A little more “you” and a little less “I,” A little more laugh and a little less cry, A few more flowers on the pathway of life. And fewer on the grave at the end of the strife. MAKING THE WORLD BETTER. The golden rule in heart and life will make the world better ; it began to do so 1900 years ago. Faithfulness to Christ and His work will make our world better. An honest living of a Christian life will make the world better, no matter how humble or apparently unnoticed it may seem to be. Studying the life of Christ and imitating it will inevitably make the world better. Christ is the one supreme ‘‘Light of the World.” Generosity, unselfishness, a “giving till it hunts,” will make the world better, especially if it be giving to the Lord’s work, such as missions at home and abroad. Prayer will make the world better, but it needs to be persevering prayer (based on a studied knowledge of real world conditions), and prayer that is backed up by honest and persistent work. Good cheer will make the world better; pessimism and gloom seldom uplift. But the optimism we need is not a blind disregard of facts; let us face the darkest facts, and make a light in the world that will transform them. Taking a hopeful view of movements for reform will certainlv make the world better. A word of faith in season does what we are wanting to do—it makes the world better. William Penn had an opportunity as a young man that few other young men ever had. He was handsome, graceful, wealthy, admired at the English Court, and intimate with and favoured bv the King. His father, a famous English admiral, was about to be made an earl by the king, and his son seemed likely to have a brilliant career as bis heir. Yet the admiral never became a peer, liis son gave up all his brilliant prospects, and eventually gave up even his riches. And it was all because the young man was a Quaker : for the sake of his faith, which the king could n it

endure, he chose rather to serve God than to serve the king. What the result was to America our histories tell us; religious freedom come to the American colonies. A.exander Al. Mackay was a ski-led engineer. He was in demand as an authority on such subjects as machinery making and bridge building. Yet he gave his lite to building roads, bridges and machinery for the civilising and Christianising of Africa, and there he died of African fever while yet a young man —but while already a brilliant success as “(Mackay of Uganda.” Once when he was worn and homesick he wrote home to a friend: “What is this you say? ‘Come here?’ Is this the time for me to desert my post?” And desert his post lie did not. would not, and, being the man he was, could not. lie died in Africa, a faithful steward of the life that God had placed in big Keeping. And when be died, trie world had been made the better by his unselfish life. —Sydney City Mission Herald. “The time is short.” 1 Cor. vii, 29. Time speeds away, avtav, away, Another hour., another day— Another month, another year Drop from us like the leaflets sear. Tima speeds away, away, away, No eagle thro’ the shies of day, No winds along the hills can flee, So softly or so smooth as he: Like fiery steed from stage to stage, He bears us on—from youth to age; Then plunges in the fearful eea Of fathomless Eternity. If so, value it highly and use it well.” — “Millions of money for an inch of tune.” Queen Elizabeth. [IO,OOO dresses in her wardrobe.] “Be careful for nothing.”—Phil, iv., 6. As little children will frolic, and play, and talk to themselves, and sing, and be happv, if every time they look up they can see their mother’s form or shadow, or hear her voice, so we, in God’s greater household, are to have such a consciousness of our Father’s nresence as shall make us happy, cheerful, contented in our sports and duties. We are dear to God. He will not forget us, nor cease to take care of us. W e are so much more precious than many things which he never forgets, that wo stultify ourselves if we refuse to De serene, as they are serene. Did you ever know a [Spring to forget to come? Did you ever know a Spring in which the dandelions forgot to mock the sun with their little suarkling faces in the crass ? Did you ever know a Spring in which the ten thousand vines that creep along the breast of the earth, and send out their little flowers, or in which the grass or the mosses forgot their turn, and time, and function ? God never yet lets these things oversleep. He always calls them, and they always come. And He has been calling them, and they have been responding to His call, for six thousand years. A HOMELY SONG BY A HOMELY WOMAN. Fay Inchfawn. His step? Ah, no; ’tis but the rain That hurtles on the window pane. Let’s draw the curtains close and sit Beside the fire awhile and knit. Two purl—two plain. A well shaped sock, And warm. (I thought I heard a knock, But ’twas the slam of Jone3’ door.) Yes, good Scotch yarn is far before The fleecy wools—a different thing, And best, for wear. (Was that hie ring?) No. ’Tis the muffin man. I see; We’el have threepenny worth for tea. Two plain— two purl; that heel is neat. (T hear his step far down the street) Two purl—two plain. The sock can wait; I’ll make the tea. (He’s a.t the gate.) For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”—Matt, vi., 32. That sentence harms in the heavens like a bell, to me ; and every time I take hold of it, it is like a sexton’s taking hold of the old church-bell. If I pull it, it rings; and I hear it every time-—“ Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Nobody else knows as God knows. He knows hundreds of things that nobody else can know. He knows many things that nobody else, ought to know. He knows many experiences that you will not tell, and many that you do not understand. Naked and open are you before him witli whom you have to do. There is no sorrow so deep, there is no darkness so profound, there is no complication of circumstances so entangling, but that you may say, “There is nothing that effects me which my Heavenly Father does not know.”