For SUNDAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 81, 5 April 1930, Page 23 (Supplement)

For SUNDAY

I lAM I, YOU ARE YOU: WHY? [ T am living now and not a hundred years ago. Why? lam clothed in the ( habiliments of civilisation and not the ’loin cloth of savagery. Why? I have distine.ive points about me which mark piic off from my fellows, in fact, there I never has been and never will be a man ljust like me. Why? The Apostle put |the matter before the Christians at .Corinth in two pertinent questions: “Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou 'didst not. receive? ’’ We are faced I really with the problem of predestination. which is as ancient as religion. It (involves the crux of philosophy as well [as theology. It belongs to the catcjgories of thought by which we reason as 'much as the faith by which we live. ! History shows that prophets and heroes and martyrs have believed passionately in their predestination. Jcreimiah hears the Voice: “I have apipointed thee a prophet.” Paul writes: i“I am an apostle according to the will [of God.” Daniel Boone as an old man ’spoke feelingly and with solemnity of being a creature of Providence, ordained by heaven as a pioneer in the wilderness to advance the civilisation and ;the extension of his country. He pro|fessed the belief that the Almighty had [assigned to him a work to perform. ano ithat he had only followed the pathway of du y in the work he had pursued; [that he had discharged his duty to God {and h’s country by following the direction of Providence. Oliver Cromwell iheld the. same view: “ Truly our work is neither from our own brains nor from our strength; but we follow the Lord who goeth before, and gather what He jscattereth, so that all may appear to be , from Him.” Thus do serious people rcicogniso the fact that the determining things in life have been chosen for us. The Bible declares that God who remem- , bored us and loved us before we know father or mother, has besot us behind • r.nd before and laid His hnn« upon us I from our first breath. Each soul has its sept-rate place in the mysterious elec ion of Eternal Love. WE ARE DEBTORS Who maketh “thee” to differ? Let us note the personal form of the question. More than once the Apostle declares that between human souls there is no difference in regard to the greatest things, [which matter most of all. By our common sin and our common redemption we ’stand on one level —all children of the same Fa her. objects of the same Passion. heirs together of life beyond trie ! grave. Nevertheless Paul recognised ■those deep differences which God Tins •chosen to create between persons in this present world. T Cor. xii is an illustration of thi-. Human equality may eouir as a political convention, but God lias not willed to make ns all alike. “Afen are born bound and unequal.” (declares the psychologist. We vary [amazingly in health and strength, in, '-kill ami capacity and sense. Lot us lo >k at the treasures of the inward man—-those insMncts ami faculties and ideals whi«'h go to make up his [personality. The history of human na[tnre teaches us that progress in moral perception ami in spiritual intuitiou has been bought wit]*, a price. nnd purchase*, !by Inng x-enturies of conflict and sacriifice ami failure. Because t’troug-i age {after age men wrestled with the wild beast in them ami trampled on it an<l • subdued it. our lusts to-day can be more [swiftlv mastered. Because thev loved i righteousness and hated iniquity ami 1 fought for truth our coneiousness to-day jure more sensitive to discern good am! evil. Because they sought after God • and thirsted for His f(•Howship ana llonged to behold His face ami died con- • fessing thev were pilgrims on the earth, four spirits are more quick to discern ■His presence, our prayers are more easy •and our heaven more near. Because iapos’les and reformers and missionaries Iheld aloft the Christian Meal an>! handed on the Christian tradition, noI -ause the multitudes of obscure saints [kept the faith and carried the Cross to I the end, our minds are possessed by the jGospel, our hearts arc kindled by th° [love of Christ. We. who are heirs of civlisation. the children of Christianity. • what have we that wo did not receive? All this slow toil and struggle and endurance passed into our being and the ’results of it run in our veins. Within ‘ami with mt. in body and brain and Isoul. we are the offspring of sacrifice, i We are debtors. iOur fathers in a wondrous age, • Ere vet the earth was small, ’ Insured to us a heritage I And doubted not at all That we. the children of their heart, {Which then did boat so high. •Tn later times should play like part il’or our posterity .... I Dear bought ami clear, a thousand year lOur father’s title runs. I Make w* likewise their sacrifice i Defrauding not our sons. LIFE’S CHIEF FUNCTION ! It is service, not acquisition. We [speak of men and women endowed with special gifts—brains or beauty or skill jor wit or eloquence. But every personal [endowment is also a trust to be laid our {in the service of those less amply endowed. When we appropriate these jgifts of God and use them for our own and profit, we are defrauding His little ones and His poor. T*te un|selfish life is not a counsel of perfeejtion. an adding to ripest virtue: it is the charge of God’s elect. Human endowments. whether they be physical or intellectual or spiii trial, are the signs •ami tokens of what God requires of the iman to whom he entrusts them. Whatever grace or privilege or power we posisess. we hold it as trustees. “Now it is required in stewards that a man be ‘found faithful.” I Who is the most contemptible. Jew in the Bible? That question wr.s flurteff [out by a lecturer. Upon whom wou’<’! you place the stigma? Names like Jacob • and Judas come to one. No. The exemplification of the meanest, most abtject, most contemptible side of human 'character is found in the delineation or {Jonah. For the moment it matters not 'whether you take him as a man or as r«- . [presentativo of the Jewish nation. [Charged with a mission in the east to the I heathen city of Nineveh, he tries to .avoid h.s duty by taking ship from J- ppa ami flying west as far as possible, jin the storm scene the piety of the ■ heathen sailors and their humanity [seems tn be intentionally brought Imo • contrast with thn apathy of Jehovah’s prophet. After his miraculous delivcr- • :ince. he receives a second commission .to go and preach at Nineveh. This : time tne summons is obeyed. Jonah's ipreaching meets with unexampled sue-

cess. The whole population or Nincven exhibiting practical practical proof of repentance, Jehovah 's sentence is thereupon annulled. But this issue is displeasing to Jonah. He is willing to act as Jehovah’s instrument in hurling Bis threats of vengeance against the sinful Ninevites; but ho will not be the witness of the Divine merry which spares and pardons. God’s mercy “displaced Jonah exceedingly, and he was angrv. ’’ The scriptures leave him still morose and self-centred, apparently untouched by Jehovah’s las: appeal. Jonah’s conduct was \ :-c nu<t ms character contemptible in this: lie wanted God’s mercy as a r<*savoir for his own private property ami exclusive use instead of allowing it to be wha» God intended—a river flowing over an<: through all human heaifs, bringing refreshments, life, vigour, ami fatness in its stream. God elected Jonah to be a means of grace, but the ]»rophet failed in his election because he wanted everything for himself and his own ends. And God elected you! Are you fulfilling the charge of God's elect? The grand old General B >oth was compciie'T to describe his father thus: “My father was a Grab, a Get. He had been born in poverty. He determined to grow rich and he did. Ho grew very rich because he lived without God and simply worked for money; and when he lost it all. his heart broke wi.h it. and he died miserably. 1 have inherited the Grab from him. I want to Got.” ’lts arm ishot forward, the hand claw.ng at tint •air, to signify that, lie wanted to I f ‘grab” souls and “get "’ for them the | treasures of eternal lite. What sort of I Grab and Get are you? What is your [ chief funct ion in life?