RELIGIOUS READING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 243, 19 January 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS READING.

THE NEW YEAR

Providen.-o has in His very wise ordering of things so arranged that we should have luarkel periods of time. From time immemoual, there has been what is called a New Years Day amongst practically all nations of the earth, yes, heathen nations included. We grant it has not been, nor is to-day, always oil the Ist of January according to our time. The Christians of the Eastern Church still keep Christmas and New Year's Day, twelve days after we do. J lie Celestials of the great Chinese 1m up ire win think a great deal of New Year's Day, are Just a short timo after us. There is just this great fa;t. man is made to observe time-? and seasons. They undoubtedly have their advantages, both from a retrospective and perspective po nt of view. We in this hemisphere hive other causes to co'iside" than th >se of our kindred acess the seas. There the days begin to lengthen, though as the saying is, tho co'.d also begins to strengthen, yet they know spring is coming, and with it the fruitful seasons; and they Joo-.i forward to a new era of things. While wo in the height of our summer, can say with one of old, "Thou crown est the year wit i Thy goodness; all Thy paths drop fatness," and we can hail with confidence the fi.t >re because of our prospective; and can also say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days cf my life, and ] will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever," meaning the clear, beautiful skies above our heads. With this thought in view, we wish each other sincerely, a "Happy and Prosperous New Year." We will then begin to settle down again, after our short spell of a fi.io day s holiday; and yet there is that past we cannot forget, and the future is a great unknown q lantitv; we are not quite sure what it nil means. We missed the boys terribly much at Christmas. We have had e. good season all round, crops good, prices gocd, business gcod, ill tact never better; but we miss the voices .f the past, and those vacant chairs! Mother cannot forget; none of us can; neither do we want to; we loved them S3 well; they were sr brave! We shall always cherish tliee- memories as long as lira lasts; then we shall meet them hie to face, and r.s the poet said, " begin life again" in that new world. 1 am personally r. great admirer of Dr. Lyman Abbot. In his '"Reminiscences" he Ik s a passage on his "invisiblo f-iends" which just tits in here. Ho writes: "1 beiiove that death and resurrection are synonymous, that death is the dropping of the body from t'.,e spiri\ that resurrection is th? up-springing of th 3 spirit from the boly; and J think of my friends and companions, not as lying in the grave waittng for a future resurrection, ror a.j kvjiig in some distant land singing hymns of loveless forgetfulness of those they loved on earth. 1 think of tliein as "a great c loud of witnesses looking on t) see how we iun the race that is set before us, grieved in our failures, glad in our triumphs. . . So 1 am never lonely when 1 am r.lone, rarely restless when lam sleepless.' 1 cannot pretend to improve on this, only let in coent tho sacrifice of the past year in life an' incentive to live the New Life as we feel our absent fiiends would in the New Year that is before us. Now we iv,ay ask ourselves hew she.il wo tart the New Year. What is our perspective? Wiiat is the state t,f things, what is most needed? How are we to work out this lasting Peace? My own mind turns on ; few wise maxims; [>issiblv Ucause received >n early youth, l-y one who prided himself as a little above the ordinary. 1 am not a son of the Mauso, but just a son of •» plain, matter-of-fact man. Yet it was always this : " Do to others, as ye would that others should do to you.'' What you see amiss in ethers avoid doing it yourse.f." The first is the golden rule set forth by Him Who spake as never man spake; and it will be a rule to go by, when the author of the superman is forgotten, and the folly of making the big gun has worked its own ruin bj inspiring someone e'se to make a bigger one. Tne one thing that stands out clearly in nir perspective view, ; s this need of liavng some feeling for others, cull it what yo i like; it used to go by the name oi gentleman, some would stress ihe word as English gentleman. I remember a great speaker saying something like this: "What : s the cr.use of the greatest misery in the world?"' Someone was made to say, ''Strong drink." "Yes," he said, "I thought you won d siiy that, but it is not strong drink, i' is bad temper!" and 1m carried the audience with him. It .s impossible to say what amount of harm be 1 temper has done in the past; and on the other hand the amount «f gcod. courtesy, kindness, justice, berfcv >!ence end goodwill to others has done ; and as wo start this new year, let us determine that as in'tindu.ds we will aim at this higher kind of living, according m our Captain's orders. I note that •lu r i:i«.' tho Presbyterian Assembly i - -:i!;cct o' War and Re ligion was discussed in connection with Church life and wcrk. Uno speaker said tho Church as well as the nation was being put to .In te.st by the present war. He had yet to learn that th? Church set out to abolish war in i certain number of years, but he did know Hll3 that if Christian principle* had been more universally adopted the e would have been no war now (Applause.) We are bound to a'-know ledge this; and tho indictment is that the ChurcU di es not carry out its principles as it ought to. The man in the street points I:is fing'r of scorn to some of our professing Christians; bin. what does the man inside fed about it, win knows sn much abcut it than tho man in tho street docs? He sees wolf in sheep',, clothing, and he afraid to shoot him I Tho mission to ev cry Church member at this new year is, live up to your ideals! We enter the New Year with iihk-Ii ground to occupy. Our forces aro larger, we have better machinery, and moro of t '.mi we have i-vcr hoi be fore. Rr.iu- ,'V.a railways are being mode iuto tow territories, a- those into Centra! Africa and Central China. The British • :n Foreign Bible Six iety is active ::nstrong. Thousands «»r b.'oks daily ow from the Bi!>'" House London, into our military hospitals at b ;i>ie and abroad. 1 r.ne. of !5i ijie s.nt tn enr brave mis .ioicu it-..- In ,i'i parts of the world. The native ;•>•» <s is also at woik. In twenty cities r f Chilli there ere now published about .'WO Chin.'so and Japanese jeurinls. b-'sidiT forty-fin r foreign papers. The Rev. lord Wiliie.ai (Jascoyne Coiil. Bi-ii(.p of ..Xftcr, savs: "Who can d lat any rate thai the Chinese are to play a great pari in (he future of the world? It remains for ns to say whit part they should play 1 r,\n see how. . Cod's part and the devil's part. . I Mammon conquer, the Chinese may become the great means of cheap production, and he the means of degrading tn> labour conditions of the world. . At any rate, • ; thin l ; <eems clear, we ought to Clilist—ionise f'liina before she is industriali- d. Jlij God givN n? gra.-e to take that cpportiniity. If tb<. Churches will wake i:p, fiirget lifir differences and oc'iiiiiso for the overthrow of the IVvi'dom in tho world, we diall be the moans of savin? t -, e world from r, grout r Armageddon than the one we a'-e passing t'-.ro lgh te day."

Space will not allow tie to speak of the other maxim—avoid what you see amis* in others. We aiv warnod of tho increase of scor'nitic germs and diseases. The profession says": ''There arc germ carriers.'' 1 renumber one special case brought into hospital many years ago; the prognosis of which was. "He would taint the who'j ward if we allowed him to stsy s "Th*. way of transgressors is hard,' is written across everything, if you l.aj eyes to see it Begin the New Year with the white flower of purity, love it, extol it, p'euli it to others, -e proud of it yourself. " When tli.lit goeot ; it shall lead thee; when thou sltepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest. it shall talk with thee.'' Wishing you a happv and prosperous New Year. CIVIS.