The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity." WELLINGTON. SEPT. 18, 1931. LIVE WIRES.

White Ribbon, Volume 37, Issue 434, 18 September 1931, Page 6

The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity." WELLINGTON. SEPT. 18, 1931. LIVE WIRES.

(A paper to lie read at your next meeting.)

In these days of electric power, we are all familiar with live wires. We cannot touch them without receiving evidence of the power which animates them. A live wire is one along which a current of electricity is travelling. Shut off the source of power, hinder the current from travelling along it. and the wire is as lifeless as a wire fence. The power is in the current, not in the wire.

Every White Ribboner, every Christian, should be a live wire, along which should travel the current derived from the spiritual power-house. Just as white light can be broken up into the colours of the spectrum, so the electric current from the Spirit of God has its own spectrum, its red. yellow’, and violet rays, which we call Tx)ve, Faith, Hope, Peace, and Joy. The closer our connection with the source of power, the stronger is the current manifested in our lives. Are we showing forth these qualities in our life? Do strangers. or even our own members, feel the current of love, joy and faith pulsating in our meetings? Especially just now' do w r e need to remember that “the JOY of the Ix)rd Is our strength.” Are we joyous Christians? In a Christian Pnion there should be no place for pessimism. Pessimism is atheism. It shows an utter lack of .aith in God, and is practical atheism. It is bad to be bankrupt in money; it is infinitely w’orse to be bankrupt in faith and devoid of hope. Just now we are hearing much about how hard it is to carry on good work, and if our workers talk long enough about the hopelessness of our cause, we shall really begin to believe them. Is our cause a rightei one? When we work for Peace. Ih rity, and Prohibition. are w’e working for the Kingdom of God? Are we co-workers together with God? Tf this is so, and from the depths of our hearts we believe it is,

then why this talk about the hardness of the work, utniut the uncertainty of victory? In a righteous cause there is no failure. When we enlisted in the White RibUrn Army we agreed to fight “till death or victory.” Are we becoming faint-hearted? Are we weary because victory is delayed? Let us bear in mind that we have enlisted for a campaign, and though we may lose a battle, or even many battles, yet ultimate victory is assured. And every setback should make us more earnest, and more determined to “carry on.” How shall we renew our strength? Wait upon the lxird. Go to the boundless storehouse of God’s love, and you will prove His promise true. “My God shall supply ALL your need.” Go to the Pow r er-House of the Universe and prove that “My grace is sufficient for you.” We are not to have a Poll. Does that mean we are to slacken work? Certainly not! We are to pursue a more intensive educational policy; we are to educate and organse with such vigour, such faith, such courage, and such joy that w’hen we get our next Poll we shall outvote an iniquitous traffic. Let Union meetings be the brightest spots in the life of your town. Women do not want to come and hear about difficulties, and how hard it is to raise funds; they are face to face with that every day; but they will hasten to come where they hear how easy it is to do God’s work, and how joyous is His service. Electric power has lightened labour; it drives our machines, cleans our homes, washes our clothes. How foolish we would be to refuse to use this wondrous power! Yet there are many Christian workers who toil along wearily, and find work hard, when they might )>e carried along by the wondrous power ol God, and lifted aliove all clouds of depression. God is waiting to give, but we must claim the power. A small disciple band revolutionised the ancient world, and planted the standard of the cross in every land. The W.C.T.IT. could revolutionise this Dominion, could change depression into gladness, by letting God use them to help others. General Hooth was asked to what he attributed his success as a leader, and he replied, “I don’t know, unless it is that God has all there is of me. * When God has all there is of each of His own people, then we shall hear of mighty works being done. Don’t talk gloom and depression: talk joy and beauty. Ask great things from God. expect great things, and He will honour your faith. However large the vessel you take to the ocean of God’s love, it will be filled. We receive so little because we take a cup w hen we ought to take a bucket to be filled. How our late President Anna Gordon. loved our Union. Hopr her words:—“lt is a sacred ». ivilege to count one in the ranks of the Women’s Christian Temperame Union, to become an inheritor of its ra liant past, a parti-

cipant in its luminous present, and a builder in its brightening future. No matter how numerous or how varied the great interests that may claim a Christian woman’s time and sympathy, she should have abundant room in her heart for the temperance reform, and give it some of her l>est activities.”