TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20247, 16 July 1937, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Gives Steadiness “ But now, with this widening of the horizon, our personal ups and downs, desires, cravings, efforts, are seen in scale; as small and transitory spiritual facts, within a vast, abiding, spiritual world, and lit by a steady spiritual light. And at once a new coherence comes into our existence, a new tranquillity and release. Like a chalet in the Alps, that homely existence gains atmosphere, dignity, significance from the greatness of the sky above it and the background of the everlasting hills. “ The people of our time are helpless, distracted and rebellious, unable to interpret that which is happening, and full of apprehension about that which is to come, largely because they have lost this sure hold on the eternal, which gives to each life meaning and direction and with meaning and direction gives steadiness. I do not mean by this a mere escape from our problems and dangers, a slinking away from the actual to enjoy the eternal. I mean an acceptance and living out of the actual, in its homeliest details and its utmost demands, in the light of the eternal; and with that peculiar sense of ultimate security which only a hold on the eternal brings.” —Evelyn Underhill. Discipline “Assume that the physical appetites are given free and unregulated expression. Assume that the crew in the hold takes control of the ship of life, that they put the captain and officers in irons, hoist the Jolly Roger, and then in tho absence of any rule, begin lighting among themselves. The result must be chaos and disaster. Those warring appetites, like tire and water, arc good servants, but bad masters. Appetite that is unregulated becomes a spiritual desolation. Obviously it is an imperfect discipline which merely restrains the instincts of our nature and furnishes no channel for their direction. It is no part of Nature’s original scheme that those instincts and passions should be merely curbed and smothered; they are desigued to be directed and used. The mutinous members of the crew must certainly be kept in chains, but those willing to co-operate with the captain and the officers should be allowed to do so.”—“ The Magnet of the Heart/’ by the Rev. Robert Menzies, of Glasgow.