RELIGIOUS READING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 257, 9 March 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS READING.

THE QUEST FOR GOD. It- is somewhat remarkable how our Rationalistic friends are changing tJicir attitude towards spiritual filings. Mr. H. G. Well s, in his much discussed liook \ on tho War, tel'.s us "Our song have j sliewn us God.'' This is rather Irration- , al to liogin with, a.s it is a contradiction to say that finite man has comprehend- j ed an* infinite God, and revealed him to j the world. There is more truth in the statement that "the war has shewn us man" that the blackguard has Itcconu a sauit, that the sordid and selfish man has lo*t his had qualities and become j an altruist, that politics and racial ani- | niositv, class distinctions, and religious creeds, have become obliterated in this one great struggle to save the nation. Yet, there Ls an unmistakable quest in tho present day after tho Spiritual, whether it is Christian Science, Thought-healing, Spiritualism, TheosoI«hy, or any Oriental cult. Hence it is becoming necessary for us to Ire up and doing, lest wh'lo we escape from one extreme, wo are not caught in the current of another and more dangerous hypothesis. The veil is unquestionably becoming thinner between life and death. The sense of the Eternal i<i developing, and w tli it we may say "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Our earthly life is only "an Jaiuiexe of Heaven'' and angels shall ascend and ; descend upon the sons of man. j ' But we must bo on our guard. The j 1 Eternal is the same yesterday, to-day, | and for ever. (Jed can only be known ; through tho one Mediator—the Man ; Christ Jesus. There is undoubtedly a great truth in Anthropomorphism. The ; more we know of man and the more we know of ChKst, the more we shall know of God. Tho more we know of God and His law.s of nature around us, the more wo shall respect our fellow men. Wo arc in the midst of earthquakes and ex- | plosions, but God id not in the onrth- ' quako or the explosion. He is m that | still small voice of conscience that I sjieaks of the irrevocability of law. Jt was for this cause Jesus Christ came to earth; man had fallen; he could and did make mistakes; lie had Ist his way and was in 'imminent danger because of the forces of evil that had accumulated against him; yea, we arc told there was no liopo cf hi.j recovery (see. Roman.-, Mi). Sensea also tolls us that the morals of Rome, the then capital of the world, wore so bad that you might as I well expect the stars to fall from heaven as to find a virtuous woman ill Rome. I It is tho historical Christ that we I must get back to, if we would pursue | our quest for God. This is what the Rationalists will not do. Thev have

always been against tho actual eharae-

tr-r of the God-man—and as long u.s thoy ignore this great truth, their writings will bo of little use to the nations. Wo aro all aspiring after this new heaven here on earth. I have before 1110 a paragraph from Stopford A. Brooke, who "ays "I do not think we have any right to think of a heaven for others, much lets of a heaven for ourselves in the world to come, unless wo aro wholly determined to make this world a heaven for our fellow men, and are hoping, believing, living and working for its realisation, not in a thousand or a million years to come, but in a nearer and nearer future." And it is

along this line of perfection here on

earth that we find Jesus Christ preparing the way for u.s to God. Hi., perfect innocenev and sinloßsness in the midst

of a sinful world has an attractiveness and fascination for those who have suftered from the effects of sin. He inlined nobody, he took advantage of nobody. He never spoke an improper word, nor committed n. wrong action. Ho exhibited! a uniform elevation

above the objects, opinions, pleasures J and passions of this world, disregarding ' 1 ii lies, displays, fame and favours of. men. Ingenious malignity looked in | in vain for any trace of self-seeking n ! his motive; sensuality shrinks a ' from bis celestial purity; falsehood could leave no stain on Him who is in- ! enrnato truth; injustice is forgotten besides his errorless equity: the very possibility of avari'.o is swallowed up : in benignity and love; the very idea of ambition is lost in his divine wisdom • end self-abnegation. It is universally admitted thai Christianity t.aches the I purest and sublimest system of ethics, | and throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade. The sermon on the .Mount alone is worth infinitely more than all that Confiiciu-', Mouni. Toroaster, Socrates or Plato ever said or wrcio on duty or virtue. Jesus Christ ' i; the living incarnation of the ideal stnndaid of virtue and holiness, and the : highest model f■ >r all that is pure and i noble in the sight of God and man. Men ' oi all ages have bowed in worship at tl; ■> feet of Jo"U c , because of his spotless purity, beiiev'dent and loving s j>isit. Thero was »ii\ in- beauty in His ehar- : t- r. Every moral action in Him proceeded tr< in love to God. It was his daily food to do the will of Him that .-•'.'it, h'tn, an ! to finish his work. Ho prayed to his Father before every im--1 >ort:• nt net undertaken and taught bis "li-eip'os that model prayer "(>i;r fat In r." Hi i .viiil is a paradise of ciiarniing flowers thatdrink in the rel ire-drug dews of heaven, and that send 1 I heir «w<. t fragrance aiv.nnd filling tho j behobler with rapture and delight! ; Wh-'t .representative men have been I ti j»• rt i a ices c,r nations. is Chr'M. has be n and is to tliuh>\> , hut "an family, and equally well under■t oi by all. He is above the liniita--111• :i (,f era, school, sivt, nation or race He U loved by th> I.ip'aitder ol the ! I' i*iZone, as by tr.os- th-t dv '• 'I in j tl' i Temperate an! Torrid Zone.. I!••• I towers above all human teriehc: s and j founders of see's- oi religion. li<> iicvv.' ! (pot fr»in books except the Old Ts foment.. urn* r<'"e"s to ovular hj: ■ P'''trv. rhe'oi'i''. i:;athema' a-t-o:!-citnv i "iiv of t!•'• -e b-iinch' - <"■[ l.ac.v. I'd', v. i r'li m-ike i •;» bunrin lc:—oioc. lie II "ill' 'I 11 i*iise'f st-i'-tly fs 1 ■»' i • '■ >n. ill wliich He k absolutely original and 1 tf 1 . in-s t!>.. w .rld, :'s one who had h'irtie! from it. and in .■ n-'• ■ r n ) obi i cat inn tn it. His I mi k - < f sti :h a ''e the bnek of Nat aand tl.'' bnviK 1 < . Revelation. | H is," w in ivr of souls : we find Hi 'i I anion.' all elassrs of s'-ci'dv. the [s-or : nod the wea'tbv, fh« sj k nod the : brv>!:bv. with litt'.-> ebih'ren pid gr.,nn •vcii -yd voiimn, with plain fisherman -"I |».irned «eriho. W'th th > • publican nod the honoured rider of tlie Jews. He takes Hv p'ao-> in the Syna-

gogue and in tlie Temple, in village* iind in cities, at the joyous wedding feast or the solemn grave side. In tho awful agony of Gethscmono, in the judgment halls before the High Priest and King Herod, the Roman (ioveraor, rudo soldiers and the fanatical multitude, and at last in the bitter pains of the cross on Calvary —opuring out his lifo's blood, a sacrifice for the sins of tho world. Thus He lias become the higlitftt btandard of all true martyrdom. As Ract(uos Rousseau has said' "If Socrates suffered and died as a Philosopher, .lesiiH Christ suffered and died liko a God 1

Tho quest for God, to l>e successful, mu-st Iks along this highwn.y of tlia Cross, tho empty grave and that glorious Ascension. Then we shall say with Tennyson: Strong Son of God, immortal love Whom we that have not seen Thy faeo By faith and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove. Thou seemest human and divine Tho highest, holiest manhood Thou. Our wills are otir's, we know not how: Our wiHg are onr's to make them Thine. cms.