“THEY HAVE NO WINE.”

Putaruru Press, 19 January 1928, Page 4

“THEY HAVE NO WINE.”

WAYS TO HAPPINESS. Sermon by Bishop. Preaching in the St. Paul’s (Anglican) Church, Putaruru, on. Sunday night, the Bishop of Waikato, Rev. C. A. Cherrington, based his remarks on the text: “They have no wine.” These words were used by the mother of Our Lord, the preacher stated, and he asked them to appreciate the feelings of any host who suddenly discovered there was not enough wine to go round the guests. What could cause more concern ? The hospitality of the East was proverbial, and when these words were spoken that was the position. To set the guests at ease the miracle was performed. What was the great guest of all —both young and old ? It was undoubtedly happiness. Some people thought the world was a miserable place, but how could they believe in God and pull a long face. For some people life was spoiled, but was that God’s fault? If a child was put in a room with everything it wanted, both for its amusement and instruction, then those responsible had done their best. Similarly, if we made the world an unhappy place, whose fault was it? Our Lord wanted and meant this world to be a happy place with happy people in it, and He went out of His way to make people happy and at ease. The things that had to be kept in view in order to secure happiness were, firstly, people could not be happy unless free. He was not advocating liberty unto license, and Our Lord was careful to advise us not to let freedom go too far. Nevertheless a man could not be happy if he were bound down. Some silly people with gifts of culture and refinement said that the heathen should be left to themselves, as they knew nothing of religion and would be happier without it. Life was not everlasting prohibition, and thou shalt not do this or that. They should love God and their neighbour and be free. When a man’s religion had nothing elevating in it and became a tenor to him in case he offended some sort of evil diety it was a mistake. Thus cne of the first conditions was freedom. There was not enough sympathy for those in prison and in this . enlightened age it was regrettable we had not discovered how to prevent crime. We were still lagging behind if we had to observe the methods used thousands of years ago. There must be freedom of mind and spirit, and the first thing therefore was to supply the wine of life. The second necessity of happiness was safety. In this delightful township problems of the world might not be so apparent, and they might only appear as echoes. Everyone knew of tile difficulties in regard to unemployment, and of the differences between capitalists and workers. This was caused by the feeling of insecurity. In his short time in New Zealand at least a dozen people had asked him for work. There was something wrong somewhere, and how could anyone be happy if they were not safe ?

The third condition might not be agreed to by ail, but he held it was goodness. In his opinion this meant being kind— in alleviating the complaint thac there was no wine. In proportion as they were Christian men and women the more should they supply this want. It wasn’t alv' ays possible to actively help everyone as their means were limited, but they could always give their sympathy. The opposite to being kind was being selfish, and he defied anyone who was selfish to be really happy. It was far more pleasant to give than to receive and when anyone was in distress or want, whether bodily or spiritually, they should en-

ii avour to supply their needs. These conditions if fulfilled would go a long way towards that happiness which everyone in their heart desired.