SUNDAY COLUMN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 33, 23 September 1911, Page 3

SUNDAY COLUMN.

“Ho makolh mo to 1 it* down in green pasture'-’. I salm -Hi ;2. SER.,IO\ I’V UF A .) 1). Fit EEMAX, M.A. The Eastern shepherd is early astir. He lias his Hock forth from the fold and well out upon the feeding ground while yet “Morning’s at seven, The hill-side’s dow-pearl’d.” This is the ideal feeding-time. ’The Hock is fresh, its hunger is keen and the pasture is moist and sweet. A good shepherd always provides a full feed early in the day. It is in consequence or,their hearty feeding that the sheep “lie down.” Not in weariness, hut in contentment, do they stretch themselves upon the green. Ine picture here is not one of exlmiunoi but of satisfaction. The recumbence of the flock proclaims tne ai lacaucc of the pasture. Hired sheep would be better in a fold then in a Held. 'They would rather sleep than eat. ■ Clearly it is the fullness of the flock that is suggested here. Cropping the sweet grasses, they quickly feed to satisfaction and lie down content. The psalm at tins point reflects the comfort and peace of those happy souls, who iii early life have tasted and seen that God is good. Satisfied in the morning with- His mercy, they rejoice and are glad all their days. To make an ideal beginning of our life wo must go with the Good Shepherd early and spend the dewy' morn with Him upon the unfeadows’ of 1 His grace. For then the'spirituirl appetite is keen and the heart feeds hungrily on the pastures! ofiGod’s love until it is nourished into a deep content. And this is • the secret of life-long'se-curity. The soul that is satisfied in God is safe. Full-fed sheep abide on the feeding-ground close to the shepherd’s care. if any stray from him and lose themselves in the wilderness it is because of the discontentment of unsatisfied hunger. T|ie stragglers are the nibblors, not the hearty feeders. They who abound in Christ abide in Him. An early filling ensures a faithful following. To stand against the fascinations of the \Vorld we must rest in the satisfaction of God. The world is fr.il of lean and famished spirits, men and women whose souls arc fainting hr them, who might now be vital and virile, with vigor for righteousness and reserve power for' trial, had they but responded to the' Shepherd’s call early in the morning.

It is pathetic to witness the multitude of .troubled lives that have slipped away from the Coed Shepherd's care to :bo driven by- the wolves of passion, to ho torn by the thorns of rornorso/ to tramp the pathless sands of doubteand to drink from the dead salt sea of unbelief through'the misfortune of j having missed the morning -meal.!upon the meadows. No after. feeding time can over quite compensate, in‘.this, life, for the spiritua.llyi"iiupoverislied youth. The finer norve^'oef: the spirit , a;tfophy if deprived Of j their apprppvprte uourishmeut dilrmg these , halcyon days. Youth is ' [‘par excellence” tlio growing time* of the religions nature. It needs to be richly fed. It is cruelty and crime to arrest development by stinting at this,, critical; stage of life. The same principal holds true with reference to intellectual development. It is assorted that one half of all the knowledge which the mind acquires in tins world comes into its possession by the seventh year. One is inclined at first to dispute the accuracy of the statement, but upon reflection it seems justified. Let anyone write down a list of the facts concerning which the child gains knowledge within that period, and lie will be amazed at the sum total., And certainly the principal applies in the spiritual realm. For, as a rule, tho tpiritual faculty in childhood outruns all others in its development. ‘The capacity for God is now at its zenith, In receptivity, In delicacy and sureness .of intuition in tlio experience- of wonder, the child is peculiarly ready for the kingdom of God. The, church, must bo made aware that childhood has, its pensive meditative moments. Fiery, child is essentially religions. His .spil t feels the wonder of the world, and is dren-

died with the sense of mystery. He is full of questionings that are big with spiritual significance. , The strongest gh'atantee ’ tliat vte have of the perpetuity of religion in the world is the birth of childhood. Wrote Amiel; “Blessed he childhood which brings down something of heaven into our rough (untidiness r l hesc eighty thousand daily births, of which statistics tell us represent, as it were, an infusion of innocence and freshness, struggling not only against the death of the race, but against human corruption and the universal gangrene of sin. Supposing that humanity had boon composed of a thousand millions of immortal beings, whoso number could neither increase nor diminish, where should we bo, and what should we bo? A thousand times more learned no doubt, but a thousand times more evil.” Far T>o It rrom any cr ns to Tjurd° i • until with an untimely over-sm-ousnoss. Lot it have its May-day of mirthfullncss and glee. Let it have its songs and dreams. These will perish soon enough in tiic jostling tumult of the world. It is a duty to make childhood careful and happy, to keep 1 ho faces of the little one fresh and round and smooth. But the surest way to do this very thing is to minister to the spiritual imagination. How enormously important are the first conversations iu childhood. The fath- • i oi ’.notlx-i ca.i'ag m i!. j In itl'ul word arc accomplishing a pontifical act, and ought to perform it with religious awe, with' prayer and gravity, for they are labouring at the kingdom of Clod. May it he given to each of us to interpret the wistfiducss of the children as their hcartcvf fm the Christ, anT to r .v 1 . n it

limn voiceless pra* .r to the Good Shepherd. 0 satisfy ns early in the morning with Thy mercy That wo may rejoice and be glad all our days. FRAY ifil HV REV. JOSEPH PARKER, H.H. Lord of our life and God of our salvation, our love is not a silent love, it comes with its cxelan.atnn shout of joy. Wo praise Thee for Thy gifts to us personally, socially, nationally. Thou hast given every man something, every little child has had some flower from tHe garden of Thy lovOh the clril-ihoo-1 sunshine, the girl and boy delight of the old time*, and the finding of new paths, and the hearing of now voices in the air, and the pure blossoms of spring and all the dreams, delights, forecasts, anticipations, and words of written love and love'unutterable-; wo praise Thee for all those, Amen.