INFLUENCE OF MOTHER LOVE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 63, 16 March 1931, Page 10

INFLUENCE OF MOTHER LOVE.

REV J. R. HERVEY SPEAKS ON MOTHERING SUNDAY.

“ There is one name dearer to the human heart than any other—the name of mother,” said the Rev J. R. Hervey last evening in a special Mothering Sunday address in St Stephen’s Church, Shirley. Special hymns were sung at the service, and Master D. Hervey sang a solo, “Home, Sweet Home.”

“The helpless infant does not know who this angel is, but he knows that she is everything to him,” said the speaker. “The touch of her lips or her hands soothes his pains and banishes his fears. The look in her eyes ministers peace to his soul. To be cradled in those arms of infinite solace is to be independent of the world—it is, indeed, to possess a world of one’s own—a world of inexhaustible and satisfying beauty, love, and joy. There is no detachment in a mother’s love. She does not love the child as something winsome and lovable, but apart from herself. Her love is such that she identifies herself with the child—becomes one with him. She feels his every pain; she is stabbed by his every disappointment; she shares his every joy. Her happiness is to see his happy. She was ready to die for him at the beginning. Gladly she would make that sacrifice if need be. Mother love is thus unique. “She does not merely give her time to the child; she does not give her care to the child; she does not even give her love to the child; she gives herself to the child. The impression she thus mkes is intense, deep, and lasting Neither time nor change can efface the mark she makes. “The infant, grown to boyhood, goes to her in his troubles, as to one who understands him best. In youth the apron-strings may not hold him so securely. But in all his romantic dreams he measures his beloved by the standard of his mother. He may go all over the world—he may run through every stage of belief or unbelief—he may become apostate. He may rub out his conscience—may destroy all his fineness. Yet there will remain one picture that he cannot efface. Living or dying there will rise before him like a morning star the beauty of that remembered goodness that he called ‘Mother.’ What Great Men Have Said. “The world has gone forward through the influence and achievements of great men. We marvel at their powers, we are inspired by their goodness. But when we look into their lives and study their biographies, what do we find ? We find in the background, out of the glare of the footlights, the humble, selfeffacing figure of a toil-w’orn and prayerful mother. It is to this obscure, unrecognised figure that many a man ascribes his success in life. Abraham Lincoln, at the height of his fame, said: ‘All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.’ The great artist, Benjamin West, said: ‘A kiss from my mother made me a painter.’ John Wesley traces his own influence back to the lessons learnt at his mother’s knee. ‘Until her death,* he w’rote, ‘she was the one heart to whom I went for counsel in absolute confidence.’ Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, declared: ‘All that I have ever accomplished in my life I owe to my mQther.’ Edison says: ‘I did not have my mother long, but she was the making of me.’ Lord Macaulay, our great English essayist, writes: ‘Young people, while you still have it, make much of that most precious of. all good gifts, a loving mother. As to my own, years have passed since we laid her in the cold churchyard, yet still her eyes watch over me, and still her voice whispers from the grave. In my struggle with the hard, uncaring world often do I sigh for the deep, sweet scrutiny I felt, as, listening to some quiet tale, I rested in her bosom.’ Bible Heroes. “The Bible, among other things, is a book of heroes. Once more lurking in the background, we see a simple, wise, and unobtrusive figure of the mother. Rachel, the mother, is represented as gentle and lovable. / Her son, the great Joseph, is generous and large-hearted. The mother of Moses was a nobody. She is not even named. But to save her child from the murder decree of Pharaoh she crushes down her own feelings. She saw him become the possession of Pharaoh’s daughter. Afar off she could only watch with yearning eyes, empty arms, and aching heart. But her son inherited her power of sacrifice. He renounced the privileges, the pomp, the pleasures of the Egyption Court. At infinite cost to himself he delivered an ungrateful people and became the founder of a nation. At a later period the great prophet and judge, Samuel, transforms the life of that same nation. He abolished abuses, reestablishes justice, revived faith in God. What of Samuel’s mother? Hannah dedicated her son to God’s service before his birth. Quietly she prepared him for his future. Then she took him, a mere child, to the temple and gave him to God. The highest type of motherhood is found in Mary, Mother of the Christ. Simply, nay joyfully, as her song, the Magnificat, bears witness, she accepted her heavy responsibility. From the beginning the shadow of the Cross was upon her also. The sword was to pierce her very soul, as the aged Simeon predicted. She understood Jesus as no one else understood Him. While perplexed and sometimes fearful, she left Him free and untrammelled to fulfil His mysterious mission. At the very last she stood at the Cross beside Him. Death could not cloud his love for her. With almost his last word He committed her to the tender keeping of the beloved disciple.”