FOR THE SABBATH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 512, 26 October 1912, Page 3

FOR THE SABBATH.

FAITH OF CHRIST. "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,"—Phil, iii, 13, 14. What a bold religion this faith of Christ is! No human ambition has ever touched the height of its aspirations. The faiths of the world have sought their glory in the past; this forgets the things that are behind. It has no past. It is all future, all desire, all longing; it presses onward to the mark for a prize. Yet say not this is pride in my soul; it is because my soul is humble that it is aspiring. If I were satisfied with my past, that would be pride. But when I press on to something in thj front I do so because I feel poor. Pride is the opposite of aspiration. Pride watches over her conquered treasures. Aspiration traverses sea and land to find a pearl of great price. Pride goes back to the past and wraps herself in a garment of delicious complacency. Aspiration soars away into tha far future and reaches forth into thethings that are before. My God, it is my poverty that aims at Thee. It is my humility that soars to Thee. It is my nothingness that dares to hope for Thee. It is from my ashes that, Phoenix-like, I rise to Thee. From the grave of my buried past I climb into the light of a new day. Accept my poverty of soul, for I have for gotten the things that are behind. — George Matheson.

ABOUT KINDLY DEEDS. It is the fashion to talk cynically of our fellow-creatures, and to pretend to believe only interested motives and selfish reasons for good deeds, but the experience of everyone of us belies the words, and time would fail to tell of kindnesses done by helping hands stretched out, aid given, which we have all seen, which could not be explained by any interested motive. Shakespeare puts our feeling into words when he says:— "Hew far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world." And kindly deeds and amiable words do indeed shed rays of light on our oftentimes shadowed path of life. All are ready to speak good words of the dead. And that is well. But we are not all ready to speak good words of the living. Is that well? Who most needs good worda? To whom are good words of most service? Let us consider this. THINK OF OTHERS' NEEDS. Few troubles of life can seriously annoy us if all strive to be kindly to one 'another. Each thinking of the need of another lends a helping hand to all. The thoughtfulness of the father to the mother, the mother's tender consideration fur the children, the children's effort to help each parent, sincere relations between neighbours and neigbhour, must help each, said President Taft, to make the problems nE life easier to face. HOW TO FIND OUT GOD'S WILL. Henry Drummond gives suggestions on how to find out God's will. :—Pray; think; talk to wise people, Jo not regard their decision as final; beware of the bias of your own will, but do not be too much afraid of it; meantime do the next thing, for doing God's will in small things best prepares for knowing its larger things; when decision and action are necessary, go ahead; never reconsider the decision when it is finally acted upon; you will probably not find out until afterwards that you have been led at all.

ALLIANCE OF REFORMED CHURCHES.

The Presbyterian Churches of the world have been organised since 1877 into a body known as "The Alliance of the Reformed Churches Throughout the World Holding the Presbyterian System." There are about 90 national and denominational churches in this council, having a total constituency of about 30,000,000. The strongest churches are located in Great Britain and in the United States. There are Presbyterian churches in India, Japan, China, Persia, and Syria. On the Continent of Europe the strongest church is the Reformed Church of Hungary, which has 3,000,000 communicants.

The relation of Presbyterians in certain lands to the ruling families is one which is noteworthy. For instance, the Established Church in Scotland is the Presbyterian and whenever King George crosses the border from England into Scotland, he changes his denominational relations. Queen Wilhelmina of Holland is a member of the Reformed Church of Holland, which is the Presbyterian. The German Emperor is personally a member of the Reformed or Presbyterian Church of Germany though he is the official head of the Lutheran Church. The Emperor's private chaplain is a Presbyterian minister. The Prime Minister in the Austro-Hun-garian empire is an elder of the Reformed Church of that land. Abraham Lincoln was an adherent of the Presbyterian Church. The strains of "Nearer, My God, to Thee," heard from the deck of the sinking Titanic, have travelled far and awakened strange echoes. Perhaps the strangest are reported from France. "Over 50,000 copies of a translation of "Nearer, My God, to Thee," especially printed in view uf the Titanic disaster, have been sold in France. The hymn," the papers report, "is being sung by groups at street corners after the manner with popular songs." Who could have guessed that the strains of that hymn, rising in the midnight darkness, would send their music so far, and set crowds singing at the corners of streets in France?