SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 9 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

SERMON 'PREACHED AT ST. MABY'S CHURCH, New 'Plymouth, on Sunday, November '2l, by the REV. A, H.'COLVILE, M.A.

'•lnstead of thy fathers tliou shalt have children whom thou mayest make princes in all lands." —Vs. 45: 17. A great promise—full of significance to Christiana, especially those of our own blood, of our own race all over the world to-day; full of significance, may I say, to us who are ac.-ustomed to meet together in this place to worship God Sunday iiy Sunday and have been so accustomed for very many years. The psalm itself from which the words are taken is a great marriage song; it has the sweeping, triumphant cadence of a wedding march, and it presents to us a scene in which the old is becoming a tiling of the past, and a new epoch with new hopes and new responsibilities is dawning. "Forget also thine own peo,ple and thy father's house; instead of thy lathers thou shalt have children," and yet at first sight that promise may seem to us not wholly delightful and inspiring. There seems to be something almost daunting hidden in it—"instead of thy fathers.'' Is the past, then, with all its sacred and reverent memories, to be wholly east aside? Is a new life for an individual, a church, a nation, to mean the obliteration of that which velopment of the character? Are we really invited here so completely to forget the past as to believe that it has no further charm for us, no further inspiration? Are we to think ourselves "happy is the nation or church which has no history"? Remember this is what the promise means; this is how the thought comes to us to-day: ''lnstead of the blessings of the past' there shall be hopes for the future; instead of that which once you relied on, there shall be those that will rely upon you; instead of thy fathers thou' shalt have children whom thou mayest make princes in all lands." We might almost feel disposed to challenge the value of the promise. You take away from us the fathers, you promise us an equivalent in the children, but we cannot help asking the question, "Is it a fair exchange: are we in any way the gainers by it?" Can our children mean as much to us as our fathers and mothers have meant? What can we think—those of us. at least, who remember our parents with gratitude and respect, we who know how much we owe them? How we have relied upon them for counsel, for encouragement, for sympathy, above all for love, when all other friends have'seemed to fail ns, and we have been daunted by the coldness and indifference of the world. We who have thought of them as the best,

THE MOST STEADYING INFLUENCE IN OUR LIVES, .

can we turn gladly, hopefully, expectantly to the responsibility, anxiety, uncertainty which children bring to us? How can children do as much for us, more lor us, than our fathers have done? Where is the blessing in such a change? Where the glory and comfort in such a promise? And yet, my friends, there is a ulessing in it; there must be. We live under laws which are inevitable, invariable. God's great law of necessity governs our lives. We cannot stand still; all must change; all must die; all must "be ready to meet the tide." The hour must come when we are obliged to accept the responsibility which the passing away of those who were dear lias forced upon us. If necessity is the mother of invention, that necessity which thrusts us forward and which makes us, even against our wills actors in the great drama of life, is also the very mother of our characters. To rest upon the past, on the great deeds of our ancestors, on the integrity of our fathers, on the love and care of our mothers, on the generosity and self-sacrifice of those who 'Went before us. and to shut our eyes to our opportunities and responsibilities in the present and in the future is to make no advance in character, but rather to deteriorate, to crumble to pieces. Nay, my friends, we treasure and value the inspiration of the past, and as we do we turn hopefully and energetically to the needs of the present and the boundless possibilities of the future. That )$ to earn tile 'blessing, to receive the promise of future greatness—"lnstead of thy fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make princes in all lands."

"Princes in all lands"—think how wonderfully that promise has been fulfilled for England, for our Mother Country, in these days of strain and strife. What is our surest ground of hope for England to-dayV It lies, my friends, not in the deeds of our ancestors, great and inspiring as such deeds have been; it lies not in our wealth and prosperity on which we were wont to pride ourselves in days gone by; it lies not even in our old ideals and aspirations which meant much good to us in the past. Xo; our hope lies in the faith and sacrifice of the children of to-day. We think of the mighty deeds of those who fought for England's freedom in the past; of those who won and handed down to us the inheritance we enjoy to-day. We think of great names, of Drake and Raleigh and their comrades, of Olive and Nelson and Wellington, and hundreds more, of the fathers of our country who ever live upon our lips and in our hearts, whose deeds we can never forget, nor ought to forget. Can a nation, possessing such fathers as these, ever dare to turn from them to the children? Yes, thank God! Surely never in their wildest dreams did these men imagine such an

UPIUSTNG OF THE SPIRIT OF THEIR SONS ANT) DAUGHTERS

as we have seen to-day. There were many who feared for the children, and with reason. Luxury, love of gain, desire for pleasure, low ideals connected solely with bodily comfort, might indeed have sapped and weakened the spirit of our people. But that spirit, inherited from a generation of sturdy ancestors, still burned bright, and needed by the call of necessity to set in allame. England, once but a small country, hemmed in 'by the silver sea, has found sons and daughters worthy to be princes in all lands. From all quarters of the globe the children have answered their mother's call. Young men, trained and reared in an atmosphere of peace and material prosperity, have given up everything to fight and suffer and die for England's sake. Men of subject races, who had been represented by our enemies as living crushed beneath England's iron heel and ready to turn against her, have poured forth in their thousands to uphold her cause upon the field of honor. Women have -willingly and bravely sent their men out to the front and have worked nobly and suffered many things that England's cause may triumph. (iod's merciful law of necessity, thrusting upon all this great responsibility, has rescued us from ignoble living, and has triumphed in its design of strengthening and enriching the character. The world will bear

witness to our children-in days to come. And surely if the mighty spirits of Nelson and Wellington can look down upon us to-day they will acknowledge that we have proved ourselves not unworthy of our ancestors; they will be content, realising the, glorious fulfilment of the. promise: "Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayest make princes in all lands." I have said, too, that this promise is significant for us who love and value our church and desire to sec its usefulness increased in this town in the years that are to come. Oil, may the same promise that is being fulfilled for the nation be fulfilled for our vliurch! "Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children." the fathers of our English Church have given ns a noble heritage of reverence and steadfast faith, of missionary zeal and spiritual earnestness. They have given us, too. a tradition of beauty in the form of grand and stately buildings in which to worship fitly Almighty God. No one can go back to the Old Country and visit the glorious churches and cathedrals scattered all over the land without feeling the power and inspiration of this

TRADITION OF BEAUTY IN WORSHIP which appealed so strongly to our forefathers. And here in this little town at the other end of the world your fathers have recognised and upheld tliis tradition of beauty and fitness in worship. I shall never forget, when I fust came out from Home straight to New Plymouth, how impressed I was with the unexpected. ] never anticipated finding a church in such perfect keeping with the tradition to which I had been accustomed—a beautiful church in a beautiful town. Then J remembered the promise, "Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children," and could apply it to the Church of England whose traditions had been so worthily upheld by her children beyond the seas. 'This church you owe to the fathers. Those new buildings which our Bishop is to consecrate next Sunday you owe likewise to hem. It would be a sin to think that the children will not prove themselves worthy of their father's piety and generosity in times past. Nay, we know that you will 'be ready and willing to complete this building that they have provided for you. The cost of the enlargement of the vestry, of the proper furnishing of the chapel and transept has been left to you. lam sure that willingly and gladly you will provide the means that your church here may be worthy in all respects of that tradition of beauty which the Church of England has preserved for us. That responsibility now laid upon you will do much for yon in the future. It will teach you to value more highly your spiritual opportunities in this place! it will bring God closer, and make you feel His presence. His power. His abiding love a real thing in your lives. Oh, may that promise come true for the Church, "Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children"! The old people who have done so much for the Church pass away, One by one. they leave us and their places are fiiled by others. May those others prove themselves worthy sons and daughters of the Church, not resting complacently on the traditions of the past, but grasping the possibilities of the present, and reaching out with hopeful, faithful hearts into the future, ready to meet the tide that will bear them and their brethren ever forward to the heart of the everlasting God.