THE SABBATH

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE SABBATH

ALTARS A man I know has made an altar uf his factory-bench. And one has turned the counter in his Into a place of sacrifice and holy ministry. Another still has changed his officedesk Into a pulpit-desk, from which to speak and write Transforming commonplace affairs Into the business of the King. A Martha in our midst has made Her kitchen-taJde a communiontable. A postman make liis daily round A walk in the temple of God To all of these each daily happening Has come to be a whisper from the lips of God, Each separate task a listening-post, And every common circumstance A wayside shrine. —Edgar Frank CHRISTIAN CHARACTER ITS DISTINGUISHING MARKS In a few strokes the Beatitudes sketch the character which the citizens of the kingdom should exhibit and the ideal at which they should aim. Those who display this character are called “blesse-d”; a word which, though it includes happiness, goes deeper, and conveys the idea of a fellowship with God as the source from which the character springs. They are blessed who stand in a living relation to God, the supreme Good, and are progressively growing more like Him. In Christ's teaching morality is never divorced lrorn religion. Morality is sustained in action by the religious motive of love to God. Christian ethics insist that there is no limit to growth in goodness. Men are to he perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect. This means that the Christian character is peculiarly sensitive to wrong-doing. Where oilier men are ready to acquiesce in present achievement and to pass lightly over faults in themselves, the Christian is severe in his self-judg-ment. and recognises how far he has still to climb. The sense of his Failure Keeps His Humble Deeply conscious of his own failings, the Christian will seek to make every

allowance for failings in others. It is in the field of personal relations that character is put to the supreme test. Christ laid immense emphasis on the duty of forgiving injuries. The offender is a brother man, whose highest good must be sought at whatever cost: and he who has suffered injury must confess, if lie is honest with himself, that he has been guilty of the same fault. Further, the ChrisTian is in continual need of God's forgiveness. Can he refuse to another what he asks for himself? The claims of the greater whole to which he belongs will banish all selfassertiveness or desire to forward his own interests at the expense of other people. It is a common error to think of the Christian character as predominantly “meek and mild,” and so a feeble thing. Nietzche poured scorn upon the “slave morality” of Christianity. But there was nothing weak about Jesus Christ. Absence of self-assertiveness is compatible with vigorous action in defence of the right and with moral indignation in presence of wrong or cruelty. The Christian cannot be self-assertive, because he is controlled by the love which “seeketh not her own.”

Again, self-sacrifice should be present not as an occasional impulse, but as a habitual mood. The Gross crowned Christ’s consistent life «of service for others and was the supreme

Example of the Sacrificial Spirit which animated His whole career. The Cross is the symbol of a religion which teaches that it is belter to give than to receive and that true selfrealisation comes only through selfdenial. The Christian character is made up of many elements yet possesses a true simplicity because it is the outcome of a unified personality. It presents a balanced harmony ol‘ opposed qualities. Strength is blended with tenderness, activity with repose. Enthusiasm for goodness is tempered by sobriety of judgment; lofty aspiration and the doing of the daily duty go band in hand. The body is the ready servant of the spirit. The whole personality is under the control of the will which has made itself the instillment of tdie Divine purpose. The character of Jesus Christ exhibits in perfection this poise and harmony. For us such attainment is a matter of slow growth with many lapses, and the goal is never reached on earth. Yet experience testifies that real advance is possible, and every advance is an earnest of future progress.