SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1915, Page 9

SUNDAY READING

SERMON PREACHED BY REV. A. H. COLVILE, M.A., in St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, to the Veterans. "Forgetting the things that are be- | Mnd ... 1 press toward the mark."—Phil. 111., 13-14. St. Paul was a man whose interests wera ,l>oth deep and wide. He could talk and write about things of which religions teachers* are as a rule supposed to know very little. For example, he took a very great interest in all athletie, games and contests, and in writing his letters to the sport-loving Greeks he constantly used metaphors which would appeal to them. In the words I have just read to you he pictures himself as a competitor in a foot race with only : one object in view—to reach the spot that marked the winning post. He knew, and the Philippians knew, that the athlete loses a great deal of his speed who is constantly looking behind him as he runs, turning his bead to see how far others are behind him, and to look at objects or landmarks that he 'has passed, or even sideways to note 'how the spectators are applauding. Running one way with your head turned another is no good. Even if such an athlete does not make a bad mistake and come down heavily, even if be is not overtaken 'and beaten long before the -finish, a great deal of the edge of his pace is taken off and he does not make the good time he might nave made. That is what St. Paul means. The thing that makes for success in this our earthly rasie is to press on toward the mark with steady eyes fixed on the goal we hope to reach. \ Don't you think we need that warning? For there are times when the past, so fir from being a help to us, seems to cling to us and keep us back. It 'holds perhaps the best part of our lives, our best memories, our best affections, our truest and bravest impulses Life was so glorious when we were young, and the temptation is to run the last lap with heads turned back into the past, dwelling with bitterness and regret on what has been. My friends, no good thing gone by should keep us in chains, for all will be ours again when the mark is reached, when the prize is won, if that mark is God, if the prize is indeed the likeness of Christ. The glory of the past only weeps back those who make "worldly success the winning post. Make God your mark and Christ your prize, and all that is best and bravestff and truest and dearest in your earlier years, all that you have loved and prized will be yours again increased a hundredfold in power and beauty and value. Do you remember the lines: Thou, unrelenting past, Strong are thy barriers round thy vast domain And fetters sure and fast, Hold all that enter thy enthralling reign. Thou hast my better years, Thou has my earlier friends, the good, the kind, Yielded to thee with tears, Tne venerable form, the exalted mind, There for a space they are. Yet thou shalt yield thy treasures up at last, Thy gates shall yet give way, Thy bolts shall fail, inexorable past, Let your eyes look right forward. Keep them fixed upon God —upon His will, upon His love —have faith in the eternal future before you and the past with all its sad or glorious memories will be powerless to keep you back. You see now, don't you, in what sense St.i Paul means that wc are to forget those things that are behind? He means that we are not to let bitter or happy memories of bygone years make us useless in the present and apathetic towards the future. He does not mean that we are to ignore the great deeds of the past nor ever, (call them to mind. On the contrary, the athlete is stimulated and inspired in the very midst of his running by the memory of former con : tests and bygone struggles and victories. The old soldier in the village preacher's bouse who "sat by the fire and talked ■the night away" until almost intoxicated by the memories of the past, lie "shouldered his crutch and showed how fields were won," is a figure that we .all admire and respect. Are not we English inspired to-day for our great struggle not only by our belief in the future, but by the memory of great deeds done, great sacrifices made in the history of our past? Do you remember how Shakespeare predicts this when on the eve of the battle of Agincourt, that fight against great odds that was fought on St. Crispin's Day about 500 years ago, he puts these words into the mouth of the King: '•He that outlives this day and comes safe home Shall stand on tip-toe when this day is named. Then shall our names Familiar in his mouth as household words, Harry the King, Bedford and -Exeter, Warwick and Salisbury, Talbot and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. This story shall the good man teach ' his son I And Crispin Chrispian shall ne'er [■■-.' by From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happv few, we band of brothers. It is when the past makes lis stand on tip-toe, thus increasing our reach out into the future, that the past becomes our friend and our helper as wc press forward toward the mark. England':, reach has increased enormously sineo the battle of Agincourt was fought. I am speaking' to-day to men ami the sons of men who have helped tc increase tier reach and streutlien her a-ni. Some of you have 'come here this morning into the presence of Cod. the great holder-together of the past, present and future to honor the memory of comrades who fell in a bygone battle, little known outside this country, who gave their lives for England's honor and for England's life no less than are their sons and grandsons who are lighting in Europe to-day. Our history is full of such rc.-ords, often little known, scarcely remembered: almost every land under the sun contains tile graves of Englishmen whose name-, never mentioned in despatches, are writ large in the invisible scroll of England's greatness, and in the book of Cod's remembrance. Ho should the names of these who fell in the light of Te Xgutu-o-tc-Manu—-the gallant Yon Tempskv, Palmer and Buck, Hunter and Hustings, Russell and Lumsdcn, with their comrades be '•freshly remembered" to-day when the "Last Post" is sounded in their honor. Is it not well, too, that they should be remembered by us? Is it not a good thing, a beautiful tiling, an inspiring thing—particularly at this time—-that a little band of veterans, a dwindling but gallant band of veterans, should inset

together in God's house and remember before Him, the Lord of our far-flung battle-line to-day, what they and those who fell in battle long ago were by His help enabled to dij for England in this part of her' Empire in years gone by? Is not this to get the true inspiration for running the race that is yet before you, the race that you are running now? "So may it be, that so dead yesterday, No sadeyed ghost, but generous and S a . v > May serve your memories -like almighty wine When you are old." May it be so with us all. Let those who are young listen to and obey the call to sacrifice that is ringing out across the world to-day, that they may stirr up for themselves glorious memories which will be their comfort and inspiration in years to come, when others who have refused will "hold their manhood cheap." Let those who are old remember the past only that they may strengthen their hearts for the present and deepen their faith in the future. God knows that the last lap is often 'the hardest. Disappointment, weariness, weakness of body, the thought of good things that seem lost for ever, all may tempt you to give up. Oh, then, lay fast hold of the Eternal God Who shall be your prize and believe even as the years seem to roll up against you that "the best is yet to be." Let young and old alike strive with all their might, by the power of the Holy Spirit within them, bravely and honestly to run the race that is set before them, that'not only shall the prize be theirs, but that life may be opened up greater and nobler for the children who arc yet unborn, and the way t4 God made clearer for those who shall follow, in their steps.