For the Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14770, 8 October 1921, Page 10 (Supplement)

For the Sabbath

THE END OF THE SONS. ..There hath never a song been written But bath its minor strain, There was never a life so buoyant But had Us hour of pain.” The ssnger stood in the chancel And her vibrant voice dropped low, And 1 listened with rapt attention, While my soul responded, “Ee’n so.” And the singer's eyes were misty As she sang of clouded skies, Of the worm at the heart of the rosebud, Of tears in a loved one’s eyes. And I sighed in acquiescence, So oft had the tale proved true— A hurricane blasting the meadows, A bolt plunging out of the blue.

There were lives so close about ms Whose faith and hope were dead, And others in nameless terror Of the path they were called to tread.

But listen! Ihe song is not, ended, There's a change in the singer’s tone, A note of triumph has sounded, A paean instead of a moan.

vs There’s a climax of exquisite beauty us As she sings of stars in the night, n- Of the rainbow over the cloud-tops, 1- Of love through the world alight, ne And my soul leaps up wilh gladness >u And soars on the wings of the song; id My faith and my hope arc victorious, of My life shall be evermore strong, ic Bernice Hall Legg. Utica, N.Y. e. r KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [j 1 Sometimes we wish we lived in a different kind of world, a world where everything should be convenient and lU smooth and tome. But God, who knows us better than we know ouvr_ selves, persists in refusing to give us such a world. Were wc to live in u such a world, wc should become sheep I or vegetables; and 'if a man is much j. j belter than a sheep, he is infinitely better than a vegetable. And yet we ( . have our moments when we yearn for i the dull placidity of the one or of Hie I other. We have, thank God, other ; | moments when wc are ashamed of | such apostasy to the great human en•l j ferprise. For it is because of our n I inevitable limitations, and because of ... : what wc are, that wc have built all y l ihe characteristic things that embody ;l I human groalness. It, is because of our 0 j limitations, and because we are Just ~ ! what we arc, weak, tried, subject lo ’ | moods, to reactions of fear and rcn | coveries of faitli, that we have music | and poetry and art and t tie faculty of's | prayer. What arc these —this charac- | (eristic life of man—what are they e j but tile beating of (he wings of one spirit against mortal limitations and t I innuendoes? What is man’s essential j | life but an inveterate protest against. ; limitation, against mortality? What is ] it but the undying soul of man claim- ’ j ins God and eternity, having seen i these through ids prison bars? ‘‘There 1 is no disinterested knowledge of God," ! said Luther. There is, that is lo say, j I no impartial knowledge of God. There P is no unprcjudicial interpretation ot life. There is no unconditional loyalty , of the soul. The only knowledge of , God which comes lo us one by one is [ that personal assistance and cnr j couragemcnt which He gives us when out of some confessed weakness or failure or necessity we lift up our hearts lo Him.—John A. Hatton, D.D. WHAT THE UNITED CHURCHES 1 MIGHT DO. 1 Mr Fred. B. Smith, the American i Y.M.G.A. leader, who was recently in r England, has gone back to the United i Stales greatly impressed by the teslif monies lie heard to the value of the Christian Church as a central factor in 1 setting the world aright. He' quotes ) Sir Douglas Haig as saying that the - only sure cure for the present disorder t would lie through a World Alliance i of Churches for International Peace, 1 and lie says that at a luncheon where lie was a co-speaker with the Hon. i John Storey, Prime Minister of New • South Wales, the Australian stales- ’ man having spoken pessimistically as t to the, signs of future war, remarked: i “Maybe these Christian Churches can ’ form some kind of a world organisation to prevent another outbreak, but i that is the only prospect I can see for peace.” Mr Storey admitted that he was not a churchman, and did not go to church, but lie was sure neither politicians nor I lie Parliaments nor the newspapers would prevent more war, and the United Churches might. Mr Smith’s conclusion in an article in the 1 oslon Congregational is that the greatest single contribution the Un,‘ -u States can make lo the period of re- j construction ‘is to pour out her best ! life by any and every means to bring irto one great unit the Christian sentiment of the world against military force as a remedy for international differences in the future. THE DIVINE SOCIETY AND TRfc REST OF THE WORLD. in trade I never heard of a man I looking for help from a union to which j lie did not belong. Who ever heard of | a man expecting help from a society j which he habitually ignored? it is diffi- j cull lo imagine that any great body | of men would seriously expect protec- j lion from a society with which they had no sympathy or which they frequently mocked. No great trade union would allow itself to be exploited for tile benefit of men who generally defied and opposed it. Yet that is what happens in the case of the divine society—the Church. The majority of people pay little or no heed to the teaching of Christ. His j sacraments arc neglected, His c.nurcn j often nearly empty. His day desecrated, ! even Ihe day of His crucifixion is nude j a day of feasting revelry, and sport: and yet in Ihe dime of national trouble. I and tribulation, when a frivolous non- | religious world reaps what it fins sown. | jt turns lo Ihe divine union the linger I of scorn. Non-members or defaulting j members, the guilty world expect to t reap blessings from Ibis union with I which they have had no connection. | Lately wc have seen how a very j large pari of mankind is out, for | profiteering and plunder. From the j head of huge combines down In Hie j I owners of little simps in hack Is 3 I hey have been playing the game ot j| "grab,” and those who have eome off worst in Ihe un-Christian, greedy | i game turn lo Christ, saying. "Master, ; I why do yon not speak Dial they divide the spoil, the inheritance with us?" To the individual I here is Ihe answer. | “Man who made Me a Judge or divide • , j over you?" and In (he eommuicly 1 I here is,the warning. “Beware of ..!! I (idvet.diisne.Ss, for a mart's life eon- ■ sistelh riot in the abundance of thing- , i he. pofuseasttli."—F, S. Thetford, M.A- i