The Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19451, 15 December 1934, Page 18 (Supplement)

The Sabbath

“MY CREED.** I would be ’true, for there are those who trust me; , l would be pure, for there are those who care; I would he strong, for there is much to suffer; I would be brave for there is much to dare. I would be friend of all —the foe, the friendless; I would be giving, and forget the gift; I would toe humble, for I know my weakness; I would look up, and langh, and lilt. i. DAILY* TEXT. Sunday. God Never Will: Now also when I am old and gray headed, 0 God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that Is to come. — Psalm 71: 18. Monday. Fear Not: Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0 Israel. Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have oalled ■thee by thy name; thou ax't mine.— Isaiah 43: 1. Tuesday. In Pleasant Places: The Lord Is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: 'thou 'maintalnest my lot. fl’he linos are fallen unto me in pleasant places: yea, 1 have a goodly heritage. —Psalm 10: 5, 6 . Wednesday. A Heartening Prophecy: Praise waiteth for thee, 0 God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow ho perfprmed: 0 thou that hearelh prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. —Psalm 65: j, 2. Thursday. None Like God: The righteousness also, 0 God, is very high, who hast done great things: 0 God, who is like unto thee! —Psalm 71: 19. Friday. Almighty God: I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.I—Psalm 1 —Psalm 57: 2. Saturday. Think of the Harvest: Whatsoever a man sowclh, that shall lie also reap. —Galatians 6:7. FAMILY WORSHIP. The present decline in the practice of family worship is undoubted. It is a lamentable fact Dial Die custom belongs almost exclusively lo Die past. We may have gilded other days in our religious ima'ginuLions, univcrsalising “The 'Cotter's Salnrday Night” into a picture of every fireside, and so turning history into fiction. 'Pile golden age of worship Is not behind us, but before, but the fact remains that today in city and in country the Practice has well-nigh vanished, and save among our ministers and families of the old school —and not. all of Piosn are among the virtuous —one looks in vain for the modern counterpart of Burn's exquisite picture. The usual explanations offered are the industrial stress, with the vesult-

ant hurry In the morning and weariness in the evening; the varying appointments, which render leisure for all at the same time difficult to arrange; the lack of support by public opinion and popular custom; the ignorance of fathers and mothers with respect to the tools of worship, and their fumblipg and bungling with them when they take them Into their hands; the embarrassment and unroallty experienced in what seems to be an awkward and abnormal situation, and the desert of dullness and formalism into which the rivulet of thoir devotion either sinks below the surface or vanishes as a oloud beyond tile hills of sand. Above all Is tho fact that by many -the need of a family worship Is not felt, nor Is Its value appreciated. The members do not worship because they have no worship to express. The way of escape Is apparent. Household's can usually find time for any act which they regard as of vital Importance. Ten minutes earlier rising in the morning, 10 quiet minutes out of the programme for the evening, will furnish the opportunity. Ig-' norance of the ways and means can be cured by study. There are books dealing with family worship In general, admirably chosen and well arranged selections for dally readings, collections of prayerß xvhioh may be used as they are or taken as models in •devotions. The italents >of (parents! for leading worship differ widely, but there is no valid reason why any father who will train and prepare himself for it should stumble and find himseif humiliated before his children. If leader and household bring nothing to worship they will naturally a'ct nothing—sometimes worse than nothing—out of it. But ill-chosen Bible readings, with no explanations or applications, mumbled, and lifeless prayers, empty-headed and emptyhearted singing are not incurable. They arc inexcusable. Family worship expresses itself in grace at meals, bedside prayers, and general family prayers.