SUNDAY READING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4394, 24 March 1922, Page 4

SUNDAY READING.

“TO WHOM DOES THE WORLD BELONG?” (Contributed.) The world belongs to those who pay the greatest price for it in their own selUdenial and suffering. Jesus Christ’s is the name above every name because He suffered and died that all men should live.. As surely as the years roll forward Jesus Wid become more and more the tenderly beloved Redeemer oif men. He was rich, and for our sakes became poor, that we 'through his poverty might be made rich. If the story of Jesus and His love and sorrow), His- babyhood, His cruci-. fixion, and His resurrection shall continue to be told, you will not be able to keep future generations firom adoring Him. If ancient history belongs tp Socrates and Leonidas; if mediaeval history belongs to Hus, and Cranmer, and Savonarola; if modern history belongs to Joan of Arc and John Ball, and John Brown, Samuel Leigh, and Abraham Lincoln, because each of these was a willing martyr for the message which- he was divinely commissioned to deliver to a suffering and oppressed humanity,, then Jesus Christ is incomparably the greatest because His •sacrifice and message were not only for people of one language or race, but His ministry was for all mankind, that the world should become a vast neighbourhood, and that peoples of all customs and complexions should comradeship with Jesus Christ the Saviour of, the world. “But suddenly he raise.d his head, His eyes shone clear and bright, And opened wide—for, at his side Stood One clothed, all in white.

"His face was wondrous pitiful, But still more wondrous sweet; And Jim saw holes just like his own In His white hands and feet; But His look it! was that won Jim’s heart, It was so wondrous sweet. “ ‘Christ,’ said the dying man once more, With accent reverent. He had never said it so before, But he knew now what Christ meant.” John Oxenham. Yes, the world belongs to those who have Christ’s love_and sympathy and peace in their hearts, and who do not shrink from suffering or death, "Toiling up . new Calvarys ever With the Cross that turns npt, back.” There is a pretty legend that, when Jesus hung in torture upon His Cross, a sweet bird came out! of the sky- and with its gracious beak it gently drew the cruel thorns out of the suffering brow of our Lord and eased the Master’s pain, and in doing so some drops of blood fell upon the snow-white bosom 'oft the winged visitor ; and ever since it has worn this badge of holy mintstTyi, and even to this day is called robin redbreast. 0, that somewhere about, our heart and in our. lives we might deserve to wear some token of our fidelity ro Him Who has called us by His name and sent us forth in His holy ministry.

“Palestine for the Jews.” was a wonderfully taking slogan, but the process of installing the Jews in their old home has its own difficulties. A late cable reports that a number of Arab villages had been fined £6OOO each for their attacks upon the Jewish colonies, and the villages have refused to pay. And British troops and Egyptian and Arab

military police, flanked by armoured cars and have surrounded these villages and threaten to confiscate, the cattle unless the fines are paid. Whether this is the way to pacify Palestine seems doubtful, and it is clear that it will be some time before the "chosen people ’ can claim, the land of their fathers as their very own. TO-MORROW. These things shalfbe—a loftier race . Than e’er the world hath known shall rise With flame of freedom in their souls, And light of knowledge in their eyes. They shall be gentle, brave, and strong To spill no drop of blood,, but dare All that may plant man’s lordship firm On earth, and fire, and sea, and air. Nation with nation, land with land., Unarmed shall live as comrades free; In every heart and brain shall throb The pulse of one fraternity. Nev.’ arts shall bloom of loftier mould, And mightier music thrill the skies, And every life shall be a song, When all the earth is paradise,