SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 142, 24 September 1910, Page 7

SUNDAY READING.

"He sought to see Jesus .... and he could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature."—Luke xix., 3. Isn't Zaceheus a fascinating man? Sometimes I think he is the most fascinating man in all the Bible. There may be some things in him which we do not like, but we cannot disregard his charm. He is so alive, so alert, that we cannot keep him a long way off. We must, draw near to him, and look and think and feel. To speak only of his good qualities, he was ambitious and his ambition was so noble. He had such great difficulties, but he was so persistent in mastering them. He had such a great surprise, and yet he so quickly and ■beautifully responded to it. Jesus made such a deep appeal to his heart, and yet he so completely answered to it, All these things lie right upon the surface of this beautiful story, that we cannot i help but be interested in him. He draws , our eyes and he holds our hearts. And 1 very happy will it be for us, if we can imitate him and follow in his steps. ■ Today I want us to think of one thing in relation to him, and only one. And let us mind that nothing turns us away from that 'thought, and from learning its great lesson. I have said that

ZA'OCHEUS

had a great ambition. "He sought to see Jesus.'' However you interpret that —and it can have a very shallow interpretation and a very deep one—it was a really fine ambition. But every great ambition is boset with a difficulty. Not easily do men attain their finest ideals., . These dwell at the top of craggy heights, and the way that leads to them is steep and perilous and hart]. Not without hardness do men vanquish their foes. For often they are clad with strong armor, and are entrenched in'strong places, and it is often a hajid-to-hand conflict in which a man fights for his very life. Not without sacrifice and endurance do men run the race and come to the goal. For often the way is long and weary, and sometimes very lonely, and the heart misgives and doubts and fears. Every high thing that is worthy of either being, or having, or doing, has its correr sponding difficulty. It is always there. Great things are never easy. The way that leads to them is never smooth. And of this thing Zaceheus is a striking illustration. The first thing that you 6ee, after the shining light of his great ambition, is the black, threatening form of his great difficulty. "He wanted," and he "could not." And that was just what St. Paul meant when he said "a great door and effectual is opened to me, and there are many adversaries." Notice, he does not say, "but there are many adversaries," as though it were exceptional; but "and there are many adversaries," as though it were natural, the very thing which he and they ought to expect. Now that is the first thing for every one of us to learn. I hear a 'boy say of another, "Yes he 'can' do it, for he is clever." I hear a girl say of another, "It is easy for her!" There is just a grain of truth in these sentences, just enough to save tljem from being nonsense. But there'is a pound of untruth in them. For what they mean, they who use them, is that to some people there are no difficulties and that to others there are many. Whereas the real truth is that difficulty is in the life of us all. Our difficulties are not all in the same place, and everybody does not make quite the same fuss about them. But they are surely there. And you will never attempt to do anything which is worth the doing but something will stand in your way to hinder you. Of course, if you are content to do little thing 9, to walk in the undistinguished way, your difficulties will not be many and the way will not be hard.- Snails do not find Alps in their path. But if you want to excel, to be really noble; if you cherish at your very heart a great ambition, then you will find your way strewn with difficulties, and the path will be hard. It is he who would attain to the lofty height that has the long climb that , tears the hands and feet, and sometimes outwearies the heart. But this simple story not only

REVEALS A FACT,

it also throws great liglft upon that fact. [ One of the best things that could happen • to us would be for us to understand our difficulties—what they are, where we are to look, for them, the spirit in ..which they are to be approached, and what t'hey will do with us if, we do nothing with them. And while this story does not settle all 'these things, it does help us with one. It tells us where Zaccheus found 'his difficulties, and perhaps in looking for his we may find our own. "He sought to see Jesus and could not for the. crowd, because he was little of stature." Then his difficulties were in' two places —in himself and in his cir- j cumstances. Now let us think about j that, because that does more than help' us to understand Zaccheus—it helps us to understand ourselves. All out .difficulties are in the same two places as they were in the life of this man, and it is there we shall have to meet them and wrestle with them if we are to prevail. (1) He found his difficulty first, in himself. There was a great crowd that -day to see Jesus and this man was "little

of stature/' and when he came the thing seemed hopeless. If he had been big. he could have seen over the heads of others. If he had been a boy he would Ijave crept between their legs and have got to the front. But he was a man and little! He could not help that: he did not make himself. And Jesus has said that with all our anxiety we cannot add a single cubit to our stature! All of which is true. But that does not' alter the fact that the littleness of his stature was a great part of his difficulty. And what was true of him is true of us all. A great part of our difficulty is in ourselves. Demosthenes wanted to be rn orator, but he stammered; a boy dreams of being a painter, but he thinks he has no eye for colors. And that may be a difficulty, but it is not a hindrance. It stands in our way, but it is no f to prevent, and if we study ourselves we shall find that many of our difficulties have' their roots within. We are proud, t.,nd therefore we cannot be taught. We will not work hard; we want ev.-rything to be eaisv, and our laziness prevents us. We are easily led, and we let a thousand things attract and draw us from the one ithing that we.have 10 Jo. We. are like ,water, unstable; and we are easily diverted. Like little children we loose one glittering thing to grasp a tiling that ;glittered a little more. Our diflktiities are very near home. When we look for them we do not want a telescope but a microscope. (2) Then he found his difficulty in his circumstances. His littleness was not always his difficulty. Sometimes it was his advantage. He could walk with ease where Goliath would have found it hard. But to-dav ii was this crowd l - thiat made it so difficult. There the people stood on 'both sides of the way.,, What • was.,,ft. little man to do f The circumstances were dead against hi®. And 'he could not help thai. How should he Jhwjw there a, eyowiH, He didA't imke the crowd! i N6. that j# ' quittf Unfe:" -But" it" WffA" Ms difficulty. And thai is prewsely ntany iOfiW; s

—why many? —all of us fini our difficulty" In Florence there is a noble piece of statuary; it is one of the masterpieces of the world. But it was hewn out of a very intractable piece of marbK One sculptor, everybody thought, had spoiled the marble, and had given it up as an impossible piece. But Michael Angelo wrought it with his genius, and though he found it 'hard he achieved supcess. And the material of our life is often very hard. Circumstances are often against us. Is there anybody who was horn precisely where they would have chosen to be born? Is there nothing in life we would like to alter, to add to this condition, and substract that circumstance ? Yes, life is hard. The thing we want to do is easy. The material does not bend to our hand, and quite quickly take the shape we want it to take. We,, too, are hindered-

BY THE CROWD.

He wanted to see Jesus, and there were lifficulties. Is he not therefore to see liim? Is his hope to be defeated, th? desire of his heart to be quenched in despair? That will depend on the man. The thing will test him, but it will show the stuff of which he is made. A man's attitude to difficulties reveals the mould in which he is cast. If he turns from bJiem in hopelessness he is a little man; If he confronts them to overcome their his build is greater. If he tries ant tries until 'he has stripped them of thei: strength and trampled them under hi< feet, he is a great man. Zaccheus sough to see Jesus, but that would not liav< done it. It is,the other thought that ii suggested, and, indeed, said 'by St. Luke he sought wdth continuous effort, tha was the thing that wrought his victory tt is only continuous activity that, wean down the strength of difficulty. It ii only enduring effort that crumbles th< rery mountains into dust. Demosthenei stammered. But he was bent upon beinj in orator. And so to had a small cham ber built under the ground to prepari tiimself for the great thing upon whicl le had set his heart. And because h< feared the tenacity of 'his own mind, ant thought he migiht be lu*ed from his lone iness, he shaved one side of his head /hat the confusion of appearing in publi< night bind him to his retreat. Dr. Boyd jells us that Mr. Rawson, the niasiter ol )he school to which Mr. Gladstone went laid that Arthur Stanley (the future }ean of Westminster) was the Biost stu>id boy at i figures that ever came nihde.l lis care, save only one, who was yet nore hopeless, and was unable to grasp limple addition and multiplication. That stupid boy became the great Chancelloi if the Exchequer, a perfect magician vith figures, who set them to thd* wizardj >f music, and enthralled the House ■ ol Commons by his complete mastery, oi ihem —William E. Gladstone. Why i lowi? "He sought with continuous, efort!" The spirit of Zaccheus was his pirit . By that humdrum way he con[uened. By tihat unromantic way he lame to his goal. He kept saying tc limself, "Twice two are four," until thej never could be anything else. And it is mlv so that we shall achieve. It is, the ■cpea)ted stroke that drives the nail tome. It is the persistent runner thai gets to the goal. It is the man wlic does not know the meaning of defeat who will not acknowledge it, that w.m the prize. Zaccheus intended to sei Jesus, and he did. And only as we seour mind, and heart, and' soul, ant strength to our purpose s.'-fill we erusl our difficulties under our feet, and do tli thing upon which we have set our hear'