The Sabbatb

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18927, 22 April 1933, Page 14 (Supplement)

The Sabbatb

THAT WAY—AHEAD—IS—GOD. 'That way—ahead—is God, Forward I strive to Him, Cut ropes that hold me fast To harbour safe and snug, And face the tempest’s teeth, And ride the roaring wave. So I myself shall know The storm, the sea, the dark, And lands beyond the sea, And mountain heights, and God. Ahead! He leads the hosts That strive and change the world. That way is God, the InspirCr, Author of man’s unrest. That way where breakers threaten I breast the waves to him.

The sea! The living sea Is there —ahead —and—God I 0 God, I loose and sail If but to catch a glimpse Of Thee amid the waves; To feel the striving sea And know Thou strivest too; Or catch the gleam of surf Upon the sands afar Of undiscovered lands, Or glints from mountain heights, Unsealed by mortal feet, To which Thou beckonest them Who follow' Thee to climb And stand amid Thy throes And Silences with Thee. —John W. Shackford. TOE WONDERFUL CHRIST. Let us. consider Christ Jesus in all His glory and perfection. Consider Him as God’s Mighty Eternal Son who left the brightness of heaven’s glory, the Creator of the universe. This wonderful Christ paid the entire debt of sin at Calvary’s cross, settled the claims of a Holy and a Righteous God, God putting the stamp of His approval on His financial work, by raising Him from the dead. He has now gone to glory, preparing I he way by going to the cross of Calvary. This wonderful Christ, in all Ills glory and perfection, is being offered to lost men and women today, as man’s substitute. It Is not sufiieionl to know all about Him in an intellectual way, but has there come into your life that definite change when you passed from deali unto life? THE HIGHER OPTIMISM. TWO KINDS OF HOPE. AN ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE. A really vital religion not only reforms our vices, but transforms our virtues. It takes in hand certain of human qualities, already admirable, so far as they go, and.shows that they can go very much furl her. It leads them up to a level at. which they begin to have I be look of new qualities, so clearly does I Mo transformed virtue outshine the old. This is evidently time, lor example, of faith and love. At every stage of human history they had been excellent possessions and callable of line results, yet, how far short of what they became when Christianity had transfigured them! A like change, S-l. Paul suggests, is possible for hope, the oilier of the throe great virtues. Hope also can be raised La a plane and given a new character by being brought into close relation with the supernatural. In the course of an argument addressed to the Church at Rome he describes Abraham as a naan “who against hope believed in hope." That

astonishingly condensed phrase depicts the two kinds of hope, the lower and the higher. Here they are not merely different, but at variance. Abraham had received promises which in the judgment of the lower hope were Incredible. Yet the higher hope accepted them, and by acceptance mado possible their .fulfilment. Against the testimony of the one kind of hope Abraham accepted that of the other; “against hope he believed in hope.” The essential difference between the two is easily recognised. The lower type of hope is the result of a reasoned survey, of estimating the chances of success against the risks of failure, and of finding, when every visible factor has been taken into account, that there is a balance of probability on the right side. The Additional Factor. The higher kind of hope neither neglects such evidence nor ignores facts. In turn, it examines the situation thoroughly and without minimising difficulties; it is acutely conscious of having to deal with things as they are, not as it would like them to be. Yet in circumstances which often force the lower type of hope to surrender, this higher kind remains stalwart and unshaken. What, then, is its secret? It is not, as sometimes it Is charged with being, deliberately blind to unwelcome truths. No; the real difference Is this, that before striking a balance the higher hope brings one additional factor Into the reckoning, which the other type of hope has omitted. That factor Is God.

History abounds with the triumphs of those who against hope have believed in hope. Far above all others stands the example of our Lord Himself. lie was tranquilly hopeful that Ills teaching would not merely survive but would spread until it had permeated human thought; that the Society begun with a group would become the greatest of world-forces. Hanged against Ilis desires were Hie bitlor animosity of His own countrymen, and, beyond that, the influence and indexible character of imperial Home. Yet, because He took account of tilings unseen as well as of tilings seen, He could look forward with unperturbed confidence. . No quality is more needed among us to-day, when—to uso an ugly word of an ugly tiling—“defeatism" has become a real menace to (he lifo of Church and Slate alike. The foolish and undiscerning optimism which springs from careless or wilful blindness to fads can find no sanction in the teaching of Christ, But the optimism filling those who include Hie love and power of (tod in their survey of fads is the spirit of Christianity. This spirit makes despair impossible, and speeds us forward dieerily to serve, and to trust, and lo endure.