NIL DESPERANDUM

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 365, 29 October 1932, Page 6

NIL DESPERANDUM

A MODERN LESSON i 1 SEEKING LIGHT IN MURK OF PRESENT DAY TROUBLES. | _____ SERMON AT ST. LUKE'S. j } * i "I want to begin my sermon with a quotation from a remarkable speech given by Mr. Montagu Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England, to an audience of bankers a f ew days ago, whieh appeared in the cable news in our papers recently," said Arehdeacoh F. W. Chatterton, preaching at St. Luke's last Sunday. The Archdeacon took as his text Ezekiel xxxvii, 3, "Can these bones live?'? "We may regard Mr. Norman as the world's greatest authority on bank- ' ing and finance, and he has been visit- 1 ing many countries trying to help them to find a solution for their financial difficulties," continued tbe preaeher. "This is what he says: 'The vast forces, including herd instinct and desperation of people having neither work nor markets, have caused serious events which could not be controlled by any man or government. It seemed impossible to get united world action. The difficulties are so vast, the forces so unlimited, and so novel, and precedents so lacking, that I approach the whole subject in ignorance and humility; it is too great for me. I arn willing to do my best. I see light at the end of the tunnel somewhat indistinctly, but we have not yet e'merged from our difficulties.' It required some courage to malce that admission. 'I approach the whole subject in ignorance and humility; it is too great for me.' No ona man, no one party, no one nation, can solve it, and yet Mr. Norman says 'It seems impossible to get united world action.' That is what we are up against. That is the lesson God is bringing home to the - world. But a further lesson we must be prepared to learn — which Christ - has taughf us and that is 'What is impossible with men is possible with God,' and therein lies our hope for the future.

The Lesson. "Now come to this chapter in Ezekiel to see what light it brings us. On a small scale we have in this chapter a condition of things apparently as impossible of solution as the great proolems of to-day. The underlying lessons are the same. ■ "Ezekiel writes his earliar prophecies in the 6th century B.C. In B.C. 597 the holy city f ell under the repeated attacks of the great and powerful King Nebuch'adnezzar. The sacred vessels of the temple were carried oft', the young King of Judah led into captivity together with some 10,000 of the flower of the population, tbe leaders, the men of valour, and ino crol't^n-nn, who were all scatlered among the nations, so that their nation should not be able to recover its unity or strength. Everything looked dark and hop'eless, and in spite of these disasters there was no sign of repentance for their follies and iniquities, either among the remnant left in Judea or the exiles. Until that came about there was no hope for the future. Then it was that God raised up a man 'to whom was entrusted this great task, to awaken the conscience of the nation and to bring their thoughts back to God, a hard and unpopular task.

Message of Hope. "This xxxvii chapter shows us how the message was presented first to the prophet himself, and then to the representatives of the nation. It was a message of hope in that it turned their thoughts from their own belplessness and/despair to God's power in rnaking the impossible become possible. "Look at the vision given to Ezekiel. How vividly it is all depicted! Ha was carried in spirit to a valley full of dry bones lying in hopeless confusion. The scene conjured up a memory of former days when those bones represented a formidable body of men, but that belonged to a dead P'ast and its glory had departed. "As Ezekiel gazed upon the scene he hears a voice: 'Son of man, can these bones live?' He knew not what _to answer, and in his uncertainty replied, '0 Lord God thou knowest.' Again the voice was heard. 'Son of man. Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones bear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord unto these bones, Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and put breath in you and ye shall live.' The prophet was to be no idle spectator, he had his own part to fulfil. So he prophesied and as he obeyed the Divine voice, be saw a great movement beginning under his very eyes. 'A noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bones, and lo the sinews and the flesh came up upon them and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.' Again the voice came to him, 'Prophesy unto the wind and say Come from the four winds O breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live.' So he prophesied, and the breath came into them and they

lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. The Unexpected. "Such was the vision which so deeply impressed the prophet, and gave him his message of hope to his people, after he had listened further to the Divine interpretation of it. What was ! to all appearance more dead, more hopeless and more helpless than Israel at that time ? No vitality, no energy, no heart to sing their old national songs, as they languished far away in a strange land, discouraged, demoralised, dispirited. "It was in such circumstances that this message of hope was sent to them by God through His servant Ezekiel, and it received its fulfilment. The unexpected happened. The apparently impossible beeame possible under the hand of God. So it has been again and again in the history of God's dealing with men and with nations. Ezekiel's vision then has its lesson for all time. 'Can these bones live" could weir have been asked when Peter stood before the thousands of Jews on the Day of Pentecost, and saw such unexpected results from his message, or when Paul stood on Mar's Hill and delivered his message of a crueified and risen Saviour to the crowd of philosophers and listeners in that ancient seat of learning; or when the same Apostle aroused from their slumber the sesuous and superstitious worshippers of the goddess Diana in the great city of Ephesus. "Again and again throughout the 1900 years of this Christian dispensation has the same thought passed through the minds of those who longed for a purer and nobl-er standard of life.

Look Godwards. "And to-day as we look round the world and see its chaos and confusion, its evils so great and deepseated, when men and women dead to any sense of honour, slaves to lust, think virtue is °nly for the weak-minded and honesty only fitting for fools — is it surprising that this question reasserts itself, 'Can these bones live?' The lesson still holds good, look Godwards for the answer. 'Prophesy son of man,' let them know there is hope. Let them know there is a God who cares. And not only so, but let them know that there is a God that judgeth the earth. Ity is man's part to proclaim this message, it is God's part to give life. "I will put my spirit in you and ye shall live." Let the vision of Ezekiel come as a fresh inspiration to us. It speaks to the individual as well as to the nation. Believe that God's spiit can breathe new life into a dissprited world. Past failures whether national or individual must never be allowed to . dominate the situation. Over the dry bones of earth's, hopelessness, earth's deadness, earth's hopelessness, Christ bids us look up and see those golden words of hope and triumph. 'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' That is the message which gives new hope to the world and opens up new possibilities of future greatness and nobility."