THE QUIET HOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 16

THE QUIET HOUR.

(Published by Arrangement with the Hawera Ministers’ Associatibn.) A PRAYER BEFORE READING THE BIBLE. 0, Lord, Thv word is before me* give me a meek, and reverent, and tea enable frame wiiiist I read it. Open to me its sacred truths, and enable me to receive it, not as the Morel of men, but as the word of God, u"hich liveth and abideth for ever. Be Thou, 0 Blessed Spirit, my Teacher. Enlighten my mind, and prepare my heart. Shine, Lord, upon Thy own sacred page, and make it clear to me. What I see not, show me; and where I am wrong correct me. Bring home some precious portion to my soul, and thus make me wise unto salvation, through Jesus Christ, my Saviour. Amen. —Ashton- Oxenden. A MOSLEM PROFESSOR ON JESUS. An American journalist, writing irom Damascus, in the magazine Asia, records a conversation with a Moslem professor, m which the latter instituted a remarkable and surprising conlast betu r een Jesus of Nazareth and his own accepted prophet. “The personality of Jesus,” said the Mohammedan savant, “is majestic simplicity. Ihe personality of Mahomet is complex superman. ’ Then after a pause he added: “The higher type is ? Jesus.”. Certainly such an understanding observer cannot be far from the kingdom an( J lt interesting evidence u°m m a clear mind, even though it«i Chrls?° S > 10n L may run °PP°site to hristmmty, the character supremacy of Jesus compels reverence. As BushcS -fl’- 11 “forbids m* classification with men.” A JEWISH SCHOLAR ON THE CRUCIFIXION. ,o Th< \r An r slicail Budmp of Jerusalem ' (I v\ Ma ? ln l l€S ) questioned a Jewish scholar of some eminence on his opinion ! i the Crucifixion, and was told in re- • ply, “That was the most tragic blun- . der we ever made, but there are bad men m every age. Caiaohas was a bad man; we have suffered from his , iniquity ever since. We regard Christ +u a M an Mho lived so near to God ; that He drew men close into the Presence of God.” The bishop has been invited to nut his case for Christianity from the pulpit of a Jeuish synagogue, and hopes some day to do so. GOD’S LOVE IS REDEMPTIVE. “God’s love is redemptive, and persists in spite of our unjvorthiness. A man had fallen into a deep, dark pit, and lay at its miry bottom 3 groaning and utterly unable to move. Contucius, passing by, approached the edge of the pit, and said, ‘Poor fellow, 1 am sorry for you; why were you such a fool as to get in there ? If you ever get out, do not get in again.’ man said/ *1 cannot get out.* That is Confucianism. A Buddhist' priest next came by, and said, ‘Poor lellow, I am pained to see you down there. I think that,if you could climb up two-thirds of the u-ay or even half I could reach you and lift you out.’ But the man M’as utterly helpless and' unable to rise. That ‘is Buddhism. Next the Saviour came by, and, hearing his cries, went to the brink of the pit, reached down and laid hold of the man, brought him up and said, ‘Go and sin no more.’ That is Christianity. Gocl m Christ takes man from the horrible pit and miry clay, and sets his teet upon the rock, and establishes his goings, and puts a song of praise into his ,mouth.”— “The Great Text of the Bible.” CONVERSION. ~ on have the child’s character itf these four things—humility, faith, charity, and cheerfulness. ’ That ie ou ave to be converted to. Except ye be converted and become as little children.” You hear much in these days of conversion, but people always seem to think they have got to lie made wretched hy conversion—to-he converted to long faces. No, friends you have got to lie converted to short ones; you have to repent into childhood, to repent into delight and childlikeness. ' —Ruskin. THE VALUE OF MISSIONS. In the February issue of Stead’s Review, Judge Murray concludes an article on Papua,..in u'hich he nays a tribute to Christian missions. ~ Their influence may be so valuable, he says, as /°i absolutely indispensable. From a. book he u’rote 12 years ago he quotes these words: “Unless the missionary is there to help him, the native is left like a ship without a rudder, and will run a great risk of being v-recked in the sea of an alien civilisation.” He goes on to say that many people in their objection to theological dogma allow themselves to underrate the enormous moral and social force of Christianity. and consequently underestimate the effect of Christian missions among native races.—Australian Christian, April 10, 1924. THE WORLD’S GREAT NEED. The world’s great need to-day is men. In every u-alk of life, in every land, in the forefront of every great enterprise, and before every open door of opportunity, men are wanted. Men of character are always in demand, and they are rarer now than at any period of the world's history. We look at so many unsatisfied and defeated lives around us, and see the u T avering, irresolute, unformed characters of men who have not found themselves. And if M-e look within our own souls we see a sad collection of hroken resolutions, unfulfilled hopes and aspirations, divided u’ills, and M’e would fain cry out: “For a man to arise in me, That the man I am may cease, to he.” How are we to liecome the men we wish to lie ? How are we to change ourselves and lift tlie dead weight of our own u-eakness and failure? How can we undo the past, coftquer the present, and claim the future? What reasonable hope is there of change when M-e have failed so often and have made so little conquest of life? If we have failed ourselves, is there anyone to whom M-e may turn as a maker of manhood ? Is there anv nower or person who can create within us a oreat ideal, reinforce our weak . wills, and lead us to the attainment of character and the realisation of our deepest lon emgs? In the opening of that first great Gosnel of the early days in Galilee, trn-ohbiug M r ith a neM- hope, ringing Mith the glad sense of abounding good news we hear the call of a young Prophet Who dares to attempt the impossible, Who nroclaims His programme,, as a maker of men. “Come ve after Me, and I will make yon—” inese four words seem to start from vir "'iU make voul”— I.M.L.A. paper.