A JAPANESE SERMON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 238, 7 October 1871, Page 4

A JAPANESE SERMON.

After a short introduction the preacher, thus plunges in medial res.- ■•• Our readers will enjoy this quotation :— Wei!; sttienjVthe. "quality which we call benevolence is, in fact, a perfection;, and it is this .perfection which Moshi spoke of as the heart, of man. With this perfect heart, men, by serving. their parents, attain to; filial piety; -try serving 'their, masters they attain{jto fidelity; and if they treat their wives, their brethren, ..and their friends in the same spirit, then the principles of the '.. five i relations of life 1 will harmonise,! without : difficulty. As for putting perfection: into :practice, parents have the special duties of parents; children have the special duties of children; husbands have, the special duties of husbands; wives have the special, duties of wives. It is, when all these; special duties are performed without a fault that; true benevolence is reached; and that again is the true heart, of man. For example, take .this fan :. any one who sees it- knows. -it ! : toi, be. a fan; and knowing it to. be a fan, no one would think of using it ( to blow his nose in. The special use of- a fan is for visits of ceremony; or else it is opened in. order to raise ai cooling breeze; it serves no other purpose. " In the same way, this reading.,desk will npt^da.as a (Substitute -for a shelf; ■ agairi, it toilli.nbt.do instead, of <• a pillow : so you see that a reading-desk also has its special functions, for which j-ou must use it. So if you look at your parents in the light of your parents, and" treat them with filial piety, : that is 'the special duty of children;;- that is true b&neyolence; that is the heart of man. Now although you may 1 think that, when I speak in this way, I amjispeakingr of iother&, and not of yourselves, believe me that the heart of every one of, you is by nature p. are benevolence. I am just taking down you hearts as a shopman does goodsfrona his shelves, and pointing but the. good and bad qualities of each; but if you will not lay what I say fb your bwn : <a.ccountSj; but persist in thinking, that it. is all . anybody's business but yours; all my labor will be lost. Listen ! Tou who answer your parents rudely, and cause them to weep; you who bring grief and trouble on your masters; you who your, husbands to fly into passions; you;, who cause your wives to mourn; you. ; who , hate> your younger brotners, and. -treat your elder brothers with contempt; you who sow sorrow broadcast over the worlds—what are you doing but , blowing ;your noses in <fans, and using reading-desks as pillows ? I don't meaa to-eayithat there are any such persons here; still there are plenty of them to be found-—s ay in the back streets! in India, for instance. Be so good as to