Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 19, 20 February 1942, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Whakatnne Ministers' Association)

THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES » By the Rev.'James Reid, D.D. "We are compassed about with . . . a cloud of witnesses.": —He]), xii. 1. Part of the inspiration of our Chris tian faith is to encourage us to think happily and gratefully of '"the blessed dead." The very word "blessed" which it uses about them takes away the sting of death. It cleanses the thought of death from bitterness and morbidity. it is a salutary thing to think about those who have passed on, and that in more ways than one. Some people never speak of their dead. They (hid it too painful. Tlipir names are hushed in a sort of grim silence, even in the intimacy of home. The result may be vcrj T unwholesome. When grief is thus buried, it may poison the mind and become a secret seed-plot of misery. This is not the way of faith. Christianity bids us think happily about them. It is not for them avc ought to mourn. The Christian view is that "the trumpets have sounded for them on the other side," as Bunyan says. Our reflections should be brightened by that music. Vaughan strikes, the same note when lie writes of friends who have died, "They are all gone into a world of light.'" He looks through the evil that Christ has torn away, and thinks of them with joy and peace In his heart. I see them walking in an air of glory Whose light doth trample on' my days. But to think of them can often bring to us inspiration. Hebrews

.vi. is one of the most inspiring chapters in the Bible. It consists from beginning to end of a list of the heroes of faith. Every name among them sounds its own trumpet note of courage or faith. The effect on us is to take us. out of the isolation of life and make us feel that Ave belong to a great company whom no man can number. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it, "W'e are compassed by a cloud of Avitncsscs." The Avord "witness," as Ave use it, lias two possible meanings. One is that of an onlooker. A Avitness sees what is going on. Like a spectator in a sporting field, he Avatches the or the runners on the track. His interest is an encouragement. They try to play up to his hope and expectation. There is nothing more stimulating to a man than "an audience that demands.his best." Can Ave think of the heroes and saints of the past like that? This Avriter thinks Ave can. In Christian eyes they are not in the past, but in the

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

present. They belong to the only world that has abiding reality. Theiv Is something in the thought of those who have passed on that stirs us. As we recall them, taken from us into that world of light, we fee! we want to do nothing that will make either of us ashamed when we come to stand face to face. 'Tie that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." The reference was to. the meeting with our Lord, hut it applies also to those we have loved and from whom we are .separated for a time. But the real .meaning of the Avord "witness" in the New Testament is one whose life and courage bear witness to his faith. That is the real message of their brave stand, their patient suffering, their heroic deeds. These reflect their convictions. In these, their faith bursts into flame. The depth of their suffering reveals the quality and strength of their love for Christ. That is always the way in which the unseen becomes visible. God becomes aglow to our hearts in the lives of those who suffer and serve for His sake. "By tlie grace of God," said Bishop Latimer, as the fire was. kindled to burn him for his faith, "we shall this day light a candle in England that shall never be put out." There is no argument of unbelief that can put out that ilame. It kindles conviction in our hearts. It burns up slackness and "cowardice. The power of God comes home to us in the heavenly serenity of those who in hours of trouble reveal His peace.

It is an inspiration, then, to think of the heroic and blessed deeds. Some of us were doing, this on Remembrance Daj 7 . Perhaps it was not without shame we thought of them. We have' done so little with the opportunity Avon by their sacrifice. But it will help.us to carry on more bravely if we, think of this war as a continuation of the last, a further outbreak of that evil that was never purged from the world. They have an interest in our struggle—none more than they. For the fruit of their suffering depends on us. "Without us, the3 T shall not be made perfect." Our fight is still their fight.. Their spirit may be ours, and with even greater insight and clearer vision as avc think of them. Rut this is even more true of the fight of faith. Do Ave realise that our struggle toi be true to Christ is only a tiny part of a battle that is as old as history? We are but links fn a chain. We take from the worn hands of others the treasure of faith that Ave may pass it on undimmed to those Avho will folloAv us. Their spirit can be our inspiration. Our greatest honour is "so to li\-e flnd work and pray that AA 7 e shall not be umvorthy of their trust.