SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16610, 6 December 1919, Page 11

SUNDAY READING.

(A sermon preached in the Whitcley Memorial Church by the Rev. J. jMapier Mime.) WHY MEN ARE RESTLESS.

EccKiasios, 3-11:. "He lmtl. >-ct the ; ivorld (or cifoiuuvj m tiuir Ua, l. . The Tirobloiu (if the wiiter ot the 800., j or i<-elbsiasi.-s ".s perhaps best espixsseu , in Uio iamiliav and somewhat giooiny ; auction, -Is life worth living.' . iho; prevailing mood of his discussion is one of and doubt l'atj.os and pessimism are (he notes of Ins philosophy of human existence. His hook is tne record of an expenment conducted In a km S with royal resources at ha id Lidowod with immense wealth and with ad j the facilities for conducting the cxpen- , ment he undertook to hnd out what . was good for the sons of men As King over Israel in Jerusalem he had the oest ; opportunity of proving how much eniovment life could ailord. V itli pas-, sionate eagerness ho tried in turn wis-1 dom and folly, mirth and »inc, arch,- ■ i tccturo and agriculture. Ho sought the , supreme good in every source ot artistic . excellence—the pomp and luxury ot an olegantlv-appointed Household, the charms of music, the attendance of fair i j slaves. To gain the happiness tor which : he lono-ed he plunged into worthy occu- ; ! pations° He found nothing real, nothing

certain, nothing satisfying m any of the t pursuits to which he g:-ve his muid and heart. Much wisdom meant much soilness. To multiply knowledge was to multiplv sorrow. Pleasure was no better the laughter and the shouting died. The captains and the kings departed. The revelry and the stimulus of the feast were soon over. As for labour, all things were weary witn toil man could not utter it. lhe eye could never be satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing. Contemplating que after another of the objects to which men devoted their lives, he came to the grim conclusion that, all was vanity and a striving after wind. Everything was wearisome to this weary man. Life dragged. There was an everlasting sameness about tilings, a prosaic repetition of human experience. The sun rose and set, the- wind turned tO the south, turned to the north, went ever circling, and when it had circled, returned and circled again. The rivers ran to the sea, hut nothing came of it; the. sea did not overflow, but tho water

returned out of the clouds to the rivers again and the same weary story was | repeated. There was a time to be born and a time to die, a time to pet and a time to lose, a time to keep and a (imo j to throw away. He that laboured had I no profit from his labour. The gains ] were balanced by the losses, the sor- ; rows cancelled the joys, growth was j checked hy decay, and lite ended in > death. What was the good of it ally; "Vanity of vanity, all is va:iity." Much j of the time it appeared tn the writer: of this book that the best tiling a man ; could do upon this earth was to make , up his mind to snatch what little pleasure lie could get in material and crcatiir.il comforts'and let the world W'.<i. Now and nfcai'i, however, into the midst' of his sullen pessimisms and dismal p'opinps and moi.dy vapeurinss there cam. a

bright flash of'tho aeonian light. It was like the lightning v.-hi-'h stalls tlio stormy night, revealing for a moment tlio landscape and then leaving it apparently darker than before. The word of tlio text- is oho of the.-o plearns of insight. In a moment of sudden intuition and revelation. thipreacher, who is King owr Israel in Jerusalem, see:- the roM o>: '-e----man unrest and drsatisfac;ni. Ho "V that the ond!oss : trife, liie uiK|iu;i?',).'li! ■ thirst, tho boundless and uugratiiied mnhitions and aspirations of himself and ol . his fellow-men are the indubitable- signs of the kinship of the creature with iho Creator. Ciod has conferred upon tin--children of men a portion of His own existence, Thov are partakers of the Divine nature. "He hath set, the world in their heart." At every turn we arc : met with the fact of human unrest.

Men in the conntrv yearn i For tho streets of tho town ns they ; till; , But men of the citv turn Their thoughts to mend™- rucl hill. . Sailors, pent on the deep. Dream of houses end t"es: But the landsmen they envy keep Their thoughts on tho seven sa'as. •; Travellers long for home, And keep its memory green; But stav-at-homes would roam. . With 'all the world between. ; Cheery our own hearth-fires! j Pleasant our places of birth! I Whv do our hearts' desires Lie at the ends of the earth P"

"Do vou know," says a great ]' renob ; preacher, "what it is that makes man i ; the most suffering of creatines:- It is; i that he has one loot in tlio finite and i I the other in the Infinite; and that ho . | is torn assunder not by four horses as in j the terrible old times, but between two j worlds." j In manv ways witness is borne to the ■ | truth thiifc tlio capacities ;if man are j boundless and that God hath set eternity ; .in his heart. Perhaps one sure sign of ; iit is the fact of human progress. A«e ; after age the race has been steadily ; marching on. The peoples whose life ; has been normal have ever been for- I I getting the things that are behind and ,

I reaching forth unto the things that are j ' before. 'There has been an ever-widening ; prospect ;"the glory of going on has been | their birthright. j The case is clearer still when we study j the development of the individual mind. , j Intellectual activity and achievement fix ! ! an impassible gulf between man and : ' other animals. Von can so fill a vessel • that it will hold no more. Can you con- I , coive anything like that process in re- j ' gard to the human mind? ; I Nnv, the very act of filling it enlarges j ! it. liven- true' advance in knowledge is j I accompanied, not only by an increase m ! ! the power of knowing, but also byanj increase in the desire to know. If it | were given us to live for SO years, and j then with unfailing physical powers we , were granted fourscore more years of j life, would not our intellectual develop- i ment proceed naturally through the j whole period ? •* Our kinship with the Infinite is fur- j ther proved when we remember the. , j moral and spiritual nature with which ] .we have been endowed. Though many i j have no desire, to scale the gleaming I heights of goodness and truth, all arc I ! called to do so, and are capable of so ; ' doing. We never think of asking how : much puritv or kindness or courage a : man ought to attain. "We are conscious j i that to set a limit would bo immoral. [ ] The lowest standard we daro fix is the ; j highest: "Be ve therefore perfect, even

The verv perversions of character with j I which wo'arc nil too sadly familiar test- : j ifv to the truth of the text. !i .* h;>-I cause the Almighty hath set eternity m : lour hearts thai v,e are i,a]Ki.')lo <■! lie- j . seendmg to such depth of degradation or i ! of rising to such readies of righteous- ; ! ness. . j i Ponder, too. in illustration of this | j truth the story of human ambition i ' " >.ik of the Kaiser titnimir ilio world! I into a. shuiLlhtor-house for the sake of j •' military domination. Think ot Xawleon • ! divrHiing a Continent will) hlnrd t':M ,

I ho mi'-chi. tinitifv iiis iioreo passion for j iaco ;,..,! ',„>»vr. Tl.ini: <>* Alexander , il„. Gn-M raiicuu-rirtH the. known world, i-i'ui.l th-i) MU imi dowri Mini weepmg l.e----icir-' iiiorr 'vero no otliei- worlds to j 'i kink of tho Egyptian inoll- ! ■ r"h "f 11 ■■til' dimmer anti((iuty. kecp- !',.,,- .|.K'("M 'i-ci n fc work lor twenty I-.'.',,., i,'.-, j,u, ~,, a monument of hewn ! i -ru,.";,' '-■ ',t.-< '->', tho (onih in which hi:; i T r A x v.>t when ho died. Of siwh :;.,..■'.,' ,(■;,.,, ~n , l cvlosul eonocit and 1 iciH.nuk'. Caliircs to wliieh these as-

! founding manifestations are possible i 1 must bo kindred to tho Infinite. 1 Not more surely is it tho destiny of j the. bird to fly and the fish to swim than j I it is your destiny to rise as on eagles’ j wings to the heights of the glory of j ! God, and to plunge dee)) into tho i ■ fai hornless abysses of His Infinite love ■ ; and whr’om. Defaced and almost do-1 I strayed though it be, the image and ! superscription upon our human nature ■ ; are tiie imago and superscription ol tho i King ol Kings. And it is as St. Angus- j tine".said, “Our hearts arc restless till ( they find rest in God,” The immortal . hunger of the soul cannot he ted wnn the mere husks cl temporal good. Uioic is no ultimate and abiding satislaction m material things for the. nature that is kindred to tho infinite. Tho restlessness and misery of the world arc largely duo to this fact, that men into whose . heal ts God has set identity are striving , to fill themselves with the glittering gains of time. .‘j, a gnat preacher has told us_ the world with all its fading sweets, if you put God in the forefront and begin the | series with Him, is sweet though it he j fleeting, and is meant to he felt by ns , as such, but if yon lake _J Inn away it. is a row of cyphers, signifying nothing, i and able to contr’Vite nothing to uio - real, deepest Piece:- ities of the soul.'’

One would have thought that men would long ore this time have learned to distrust the ordinn y methods ol get- ; ting peace. Not, only have they the; testimony of others to the vanity ot . forori.sh attempts to reach rest by out- , side moans, but they have their own miserable, heart-breaking experience to teach them. There is nothing sadder ‘ or stranger in the whole of human history than the fact that wo do not loam , hv‘n thousand lailmes chat tiio worn! v.'dl not avail to make us restful and Most. I

Sir Titus Salt, ho who-by his commercial genius made the town of Saltaire, in Yorksiiiie, and who won his way up to a foremost place amongst British merchant princes, was led to seek Christ by watching tho movements of a slug in his garden. He noticed the lit tic animal come to a stripped rod that tho gardener had put in Hie ground to keep the lio'Vers upright. It began to mount Lie dry stick, evidently expecting that at, the top there would he Irish, succulent leaves. Ho watched. The- slug eliinhed up and up till it came- to the top and searched, and behold there was notiiing Imt dryness. So it turned and wearily began to descend. “Ah, thought the groat- man, “that is what 1 have been doing all my life. On and on 1 have gone, into a new week, into a new month, into anew year, and-1 know I shall reach old ago and dio without finding anything more than that slug found at- the top rf the stick. 0, ’ lie, exclaimed, “for peace.” -And lie got it where yen can get .1 —from Jesus Christ. Perhaps von have already discovered that there is nothing on the dry withered stick of the woi Id on which your immortal soul can feed- You have climbed and (ode,! ami perspired, and you have not- loom! what you sought. Give Ulip Tit Jesus. Do n■- any longer diiv-.j your M-.;.- : i ml powers and po<siIbliLics'lo merely finite cuds. Do not pro-tin.*!! your rjiiritual energies to material jui'snits. Aon will never be irnlv Ido.-t till yon seek the God AAlio has s f, t eternity in your heart, and i:ntiTyoii commit your'soul in quietness ai d confidence unto Him.