RELIGIOUS LIFE

Southland Times, Issue 23408, 15 January 1938, Page 19

RELIGIOUS LIFE

(By POPOKOTEA) CHRISTIAN CONQUEST The Apostle Paul was always singing of victory. At the hands of men he suffered sorely. Some of his converts failed him. The Jews would gladly have killed him. There was a jagging thorn in his flesh—probably recurring malaria. And yet it was Paul who shouted in a song of triumph: We are more than conquerors.” Paul has been called a pessimist. He faced reality. He gazed steadily into the sombre facts of life. His interest in them was not born of a morbid mentality. But he was desirous of looking at life steadily and seeing it in true perspective. In his letters to the Roman Church and o the young man Timothy, the Apostle Paul faced the sordid side ot lite witn a frank mind. He felt that however forceful human sinfulness might be, yet the courage in his heart was more powerful and of abiding worthfulness. Men show their strength by the conquest of circumstances Weak , men are the slaves of things that happen, whereas strong men utilize their environment. They use every experience as a stepping stone to something higher. When he was taken to Rome by the soldiers of the Empire, Paul was een Y disappointed. By law he was chained to a Roman soldier. But Paul wo allow that chain to hold him down. He would utilize his circumstance. n so as one soldier after another came on duty, Paul had, in the course or a ew months, a good-sized congregation. Although he was held in the grip ot a painful circumstance, Paul used the occasion to the very best advantage and proved himself a faithful exemplar of Christian conquest. * There is fnan’s own self to be conquered. A man of weak purpose never conquers his interior life. His mentality remains infantile. He is the victim of his moods and humours. He may never have outgrown the anger, ne displayed in the first three months of his life. The moods and tempers oi an undisciplined spirit break down the finest resolves and sweep away the best intentions. An uncontrolled man is a menace in the community. His tiger spirit remains untamed. Socrates and Plato were greatly concerned about self-knowledge and harmony in life. Aristotle showed a marked advance on his predecessors by insisting on the conquest by reason of man s fiery nature. The Apostle Paul has the same conception, which he develops along Christian lines. , Tl Paul tells us how he conquered one of his most dejected moods. It was m Corinth. He had been cast out of four cities. Now Corinth seemed likely to treat him in the same way. Momentarily Paul had the impulse to give up altogether. But his unconquerable spirit won the day. He would go on. He would preach Christ crucified. Weak men flinch or run. Paul would have none of it. He was more than a conqueror in that exceedingly difficult mastery of life—the conquest of self.

THE BIBLICAL WINDOW

SECURITY Eph. 5:25 “Christ .. . loved the church and gave himself for it.” Henry Howard tells the story, of a ship wrecked on a coral reef in the South Seas. The crew had to. get ashore as best they could, using anything they saw afloat as a life preserver. Not knowing the island, they were afraid to go inland. For all they knew the inhabitants might be cannibals. Presently one of the crew, more daring than the rest, climbed a nearby hillock and risked a look over the crest. Instantly he began to wave his. arms excitedly, beckoning them. As his pals approached they heard him shouting: “Come along, boys, it’s all right, here’s a church!” The church was a symbol of security. Without that symbol, they knew that their lives would hardly have been worth a moment’s consideration.

—F. C. Hoggarth. FROM WESLEY’S JOURNAL “I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation. This is the work which I know God has called me to; and sure I am that his blessing attends it. Great encouragement have I, therefore, to be faithful in fulfilling the work he hath given me to do.” CONSIDER THE LILIES

Sweet nurslings of the vernal skies. Bath’d in soft airs, and fed with dew, What more than magic in you lies, To fill the heart’s fond view? In childhood’s sports, companions gay, In sorrow, on Life’s downward way, How soothing! In our last decay Memorials prompt and true. —John Keble.

ORDERED COFFEE; GOT TURKEY

Eph. 4:32. “Be ye kind one to another.”

“A cup of coffee,” said the man who wandered into a restaurant in a community in the central part of New York on Christmas Day. The owner looked at his customer, sensed that he was hungry, seated him at a table, and in 3 few minutes placed before him a full turkey dinner. The stranger, whose eyes filled with tears of gratitude, was told to eat all he possibly could and keep his money. He certainly ate a hearty meal. When thanking the restaurant owner before he left, the man admitted that it was almost two days since he had tasted food, and that he had travelled more than twenty-five miles on foot since his last meal. Though the restaurant did a good business that Christmas Day, the owner declared at the close that he got more happiness out of serving the wandering, hungry stranger, than he had out of all the other meals he had served to patrons who paid for their dinners. —Exchange Journal. REAL DISCERNMENT If I wanted to know if a piece of music was written by Handel, I should soak myself in music written by him, until I was familiar with his style, and then I should have a chance of knowing if the piece “rang true,” and so it is only those who grow familiar with the things of God who are likely to recognize whether a revelation is from God or not. Samuel could say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth,” for he was pure in heart and had trained himself to listen for the voice of his earthly father, and therefore could hear the summons of his Heavenly Father and could say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” .... There is a great truth hidden in the familiar words “Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.”

—The Bishop of London.