REV FLANACAN'S MISSION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13664, 31 March 1908, Page 7

RE V FLANACAN'S MISSION.

"MONDAY'S MEETtNG.

There was a good attendance at tbe' Sheatre Royal last night when the < Rev. -James Flanagan continued his mission. He took for his text the words' from St. John 1, verses 40 to 42: "One of the twa that heard John speak and followed, him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Be- brought him to Jesus." Now that cost' that . plain fisherman about a couple of hours of time, a tcp Words of entreaty, that was all. He walked from the little fisher cottage somewhere, on the banks, of the Sea of Galilee with a strange flame burning in him. He had ' come across a good thing and, like the men who landed on these shores years ago, qaw a good thing and sent -home, to England to let their- £r*en«te> know so that they too might share tiiem, he wanted someone else to share it with him. -He was « W» n <?f? f **° influence; be had no authority : he had never been heard of beyond the street in which he lived; and he wondered to vrhorn^ ha^ y< fipu]d»^pommuniicate .. this knowledge of this wonderful Jesus. The thought struck him he had no influence with the Mayor and none with the Aldermen. They would not let him address the Council on the subject and probably he felt the only man. he coujd influence at all waa his± own 4xrother.< He went down to the nets where his brother was and said "Leave those nets! I have found the hope of Israel. The dream of the Jews is, about to be realised. Come on, Simon^'neyer mind the fish, never mind mend&ng the nets t I*U take you. back to the spot whore -I have just left Him." Together they proceeded'' to Jesus, but Jesus looked upon him, and in that look the Master found His servant and the servant found his Lord. Once again He looked upon him on the day when with curses ho had denied hjs Lord. There came back tpvthe foh»rinan, the first time the Lord jty&^^uiVoii him, apd ne wept "bitterly. Andrew was a little man. Ho could on& <% little things. God never intended him to occupy the pmnwle'^oPgr^atneSrin the larger sense, but. this li*sle man; . who, could utand; nets and fish if the boat was not too large — this man^Onld bring into.' wtiori tho larger personality of "Peter. When Petpr was preaching on the day of Pentecdet^Jidrew^ could feelj "That is the sermon 1 -Wanted' to pTeaCh' but' could not :do it," and he could say, "Do you kuoir who led him to the. Master.?- T did I" All that Andrew could not ex-f pre^B was -brought out mr the larger personality. There were three thoughts, the! preacher said, which he wished thefli to consider: (1) Whether it was ntrfppersonaHjgr that gave sanctity to coa^aon things, (2) Did personality grw> power to truth? (8) Whether personality could find a full and perfect ' expression through any other medium thai pe^apuality^, Ha, would r illustrate. In. a mu^^ inj^tmetiwf waaexhaßited a piece of rag. It was a dirty piece of sag, but the great Republic thought so much of that dirty piece of rag "that it yas placed in cne of the Government museums. "If you saw it on the pavpment," he continued, "as you left this building you would not condescend to touch it with your fingers. If you had) a stick or umbrella you might push it into the gutter. Yet this is thought bo much of by the Government of tho great Republic that if is sacredly kept in £a case-. Watch in that museum! What happens when coloured people come in? They kept their hats on in looking at the curiosities, but when . they Henew nearHso this; tearsT-spring 1 to their eyes. What was it that gave that 'rag its sanctity? It was because personality had touched it. Why put a piece of rag into a museum? When in Ford Street' the assasin Booth shot President Lincoln, tbe emancipator of the slave, a man in th&lieight of glory, Laura Keene*, robed in a beautiful dress covered with sparkling jewels, went' ite his *id and folded her beautiful Aliens of silk and held it to the bleeding wounds until strong men came and carried him away. The stained portion of Laura. i^eeneis -dress was cut off. and preserved in memory of the ' man who had driven slavery from their land. Is there any cause to wonder that dirty piece of, rag is sacred to those coloured men? I was in a house one day, a beautiful house, and in one room thousands of pounds had been spent in lovely pictures by the great masters, but in one of the most prominent places of/ike room was a small sixpenny toy Morsel F s^oke/to the 'lady. I thought it was so ridiculous to see such an article among the works of the great masters, but found I had made a mistake. ; TShat little ' sixpenny horse had been one of the treasures of a little child that had been taken from them. To this woman and her husband there was no more sacred thing in the home." It was personality that gave power to truth, contained the missioner. What was the wood of the Cross? Only wood, but it was the personality of Him Who was nailed to it that gave it its value. ' God was in nature, and in providence, and in history, but it was when the word became flesh or incarnate in another personality, that God became the redeeming God.