RESTFUL THOUGHTS.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16644, 14 November 1925, Page 6

RESTFUL THOUGHTS.

FOR A QUIET HOUR. FRAGMENTS OF THOUGHT. If every man’s eternal care Were written on his brow, How many would our pity share Who raise our envy now! , * * * Life appears to me to be too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrong.—C. Bronte. # * * *

Conviction of ignorance is the doorstep to the temple of wisdom. * * * *

Not what has. happened to myself to-day, but what has happened to other.s'through me—that should bo my thought.—F. D. Blake. H ,* * *

The lighthouse countenance of a ] friend givetli such an inward decking to the house where it lodgeth, as that proudest palaces have cause to envy; the gilding. Sir P. Sidney. * * * * 1

Judge not without knowledge, nor without necessity, and never without love.—A. Whyte.

‘CHRIST OUR SONG.” (A one-minute sermon by Rev. T. He Witt Talmage, Brooklyn Tabernacle.

New York). “ The Lord : 's mv strength and my song.”—Psalm. The most fascinating theme for a heart properly attuned is the Saviour. There is something in the morning light to suggest Hun, and something m Ihe evening shadow to speak His praise. The flower breathes Him. the star shines Him, the cascade proclaims Him, and all the voices of nature chant Him. Whatever is grand, bright, and beautiful, if you will only listen to it, will speak His praise. So now, when I come to the summer-time and pluck a flower, I think of Him who is the “rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. When I see in the fields a lamb, 1. say: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.” When on a very hot day I come under a projecting cliff, 1 say: Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.

Over the old-fashioned pulpits there was a sounding-board. The voice of the minister rose to the soundingboard, and then struck back again upon the ears, of the people. And so, the ten thousand voices of earth rising up, find the heavens a sounding-board, which strikes back to the ears of all the nations the praises of Christ. The heavens tell His glory, and the earth showeth His handiwork. The Bible thrills with one great story of redemption. Upon a blasted and faded Paradise it poured the light of a glorious restoration. It looked upon Abraham from the ram caught in the thicket. It spoke of the bleating of the herds driven to Jerusalem for sacrifice. It put infinite pathos into the speech o| uncouth fishermen. It lifted Paul into, the seventh heaven, and it brake upon the ear of St. John with the brazen trumpet, and the doxologv of the elders and the rushing wings of the seraphim.

It is wonderful in these days to come across a Band of Hope with a membership of 450 children, the weekly attendance being about 370. Such a society is in existence in the Radnor Street Westeyan schools, East London, and recently the children and their parents gathered to celebrate the 47th inniversary.

WORDS OF COMFORT. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, said your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, -and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Isaiah.

As one when his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.—lsaiah.

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hatn redeemed Jerusalem.—lsaiah.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil., for Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.— Banlms. ‘ / , * 4 . * * THE CITY DWELLER, God of the wide and rolling plains. Lord of the vast unbounded sea, From stilling room and crowded street Our cry arises now to Thee, Save us from sordid selfish lives, From narrowness of view- or creed; Help us to stretch a friendly hand To anyone we seein need. The high-walled houses hem us in, And we grow fretful ’neath the strain Of living always ’mid the rush And din. Lord, soothe each weary brain. Give us a strong unfettered faith, A so.nl that trusts its all to Thee, Sympathies wide as Thy great plains, Love deep as Thine eternal sea. —Constance M. Savage. » * * * JOTTINGS. The oldest clergyman in Britain is the Rev. Christopher Cook, rector of Mamhilad, who lias celebrated his hundredth birthday. He still occasionally occupies the pulpit. Mr. Arnold Rushton, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, who welcomed, the Congregational Union to that city last October, has-interesting Congregational associations. His father, who is still living and is 90 years old, was one of the late Dr. J. H. Jowett’s Sundayschool teachers at Square Church, Halifax. Alex. Pettigrew/who had been termed the Billy Bray of Cullercoats, believed greatly in short sermons and short prayers. Once when conducting a love-feast at Howden-on-Type, one of the speakers was expatiating on his experience, when Alex, jumped to his feet and exclaimed: “Finish it m heaven, my brother; finish it in heaven! Now the next!” * * ❖ * After the dedication, by the Bishop of Liverpool, of a two-manual pedal organ at Walton Prison chapel, a woman prisoner took her seat at the organ and played voluntaries and hymns with marked ability. Another woman prisoner, gifted with a clear soprano voice, gave a feeling interpretation of “Eye Hath Not Seen,” from Gaul’s cantata “The Holy City.” * * * * Sunday Political Meetings.—lt is a matter of regret that some politicians have so little regard for the Lord’s Day, that they arrange political meetings on that day, and just lately tills has become serious. We are glad that (Continued at bottom of next column.)

in some places there is considerable opposition to these Sunday election meetings. Despite strong protests from the Labour group, and others, Bournemouth Town Hall Council has decided that no meeting lie allowed in Bournemouth Town Hall on Sundays. The town hall has often been used on Sunday evenings for Labour mass meetings. Replying to the discussion, Asderman Cartwright denied that they were animated bv political motives. The fact that the town hall had been used for political meetings on Sunday evenings, lie said, had hurt the feelings of a large number of religiouslyinclined people. Essex County licensing committee had decided against opening cinemas on Sundays.