SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1916, Page 3

SUNDAY READING.

TEMPERANCE. SERMON PREACHED HV i!K\". A. 11. (JOLVILE, M.A., in SI. Jlary's Cluiali, New iL J lymoiiLii. "Tim Twelfth an amethyst.''—Rev. *xi., -20. Anyone who is at all familiar with that wonderful ami mysterious record known as the book of the Revelation vill recognise this sentence as part of the beautiful description of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. which St. John saw coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorne:! for her husband. "And he carried me awev in the Spirit," says the apostle, '•(<> a great and high mountain and showed me the great city descending out of [leaven from God." To understand the significance of the vision, think of St. John's long exile on that lonely island of Patmos, while the cause for which his Master had died was still struggling for life, and the whole great world was encompassed by strife and cruelty, by sensuality i:nd excess. How often must tlmt lonely man, as he listened to the monotonous crash of the waves upon the shore, typifying the sorrow and unrest of the world, how often must he have cried out in his heart, as so many of the saints of God have cried. "Ilo'.v long. 0 Lord, how long? When -hall Thy Kingdom come?" And God gave him thi ~ vision, a vision of the world prepared for Christ, cleansed, purified, exalted. It wa s nothing strange and unfamiliar tlmt the exile saw in that glorious vision, Jerusalem, the city so d.early loved of all her sons and daughters, from which they had been often driven, banished, exiled, bill towards which always their hearts had turned in longing, "]f I forget thee. 0 .Jerusalem, let mv right hand forget her cunning ... if I prefer

not, Jerusalem even in my mirth." There are some of in who can understand that deep longing for home, tlr.it almost intolerable feeling that wo oafi home-sickness. Tt is not a thing you can explain, or argue with, or reason away. It just comes and grips us at times, however -smooth and secure and comfortable our present surroundings—aye. even in the midst of our mirth; and the dillieuHie.s anil dangers, that beset our fur-ofV country, but intensify this feeling. so that a man living out here in tiiis quite liitie town, surrounded by scenes of beauty and peace, yet stretches out the hands of desire across I the sea and eric; passionately:

Though summer smiles on here for ever, /Though not a leaf falls from the tree. Teil Kngiand fll lurget litu' never, 0 winds that blow across the sea." How much more, then, would a ionelv exile like St. John think often ami passionately of his city, of his country and of his countrymen who had "known not the time of their visitation,'' who had rejected their Messiah, and gone their own way. and were already given up a.s a prey to their foes'! Ami in his loneliness the vision came to him of Jerusalem, the city of his desire, all that he hud loved iicst, bathed in the light of jltuven. Like the sweet of home uliich come flooding •''■'..-w.-g-h the gates or' a <|iiickened memory u':-/ -niud of sonic -oldicr dying amid <tr tnd smoke of the battlefield, cR'-ioiuj: hi™ io forget his sun-oundings and murmur of green liehls and rippling b. ooks. of home and friends, so did the vision of Jerusalem come to St. John;, and the vision brought him a greater con-olation and hope than the memory of old times alone could have done. It was a new Jerusalem that he saw. forgiven, cleansed, sanctilied, radiant with happiness as a bride adorned for her husband, all the old tragic mistakes and failure- forgotten, a new city ready and prepared fo:' Christ.

WHAT WE NEED TO-DAY. It is. my frL-.ids, a vision such as that that we need to-clav. We an- Linking out upon a world full of darkness and cruel habitations, though, I belicxe. a world working out its own salvation. We had done our best to make it a comfortable plate to iive in. We had shut our eyes to all dangers that might have interfered v.-itli our comfort. We had got far on the path of what we called progress, and our o'd world has tumbled to pieces about us; the sword of material science with which we were to cut oitr way to a heaven upon earth, lias broken oil' in our hand: nay, it has been turned against us. We need now the vision of a new world prepared, made ready for the rule of Christ. Most of us believe, at any rate, that things cannot be the same after the war is over. All sorts of changes will come. It will be the old world, made new, and we must work to make it Christ's world, doing what we can in the humblest way to realise in our modern times the great vision of St. John. Now here is just one out of many things of which we are reminded by this vision—one tiling that I want to emphasise. The city which St. John saw coming down from heaven, whose streets were of gold, was supported upon twelve foundations, which were twelve precious stones. Each jewel has, in the legends of the nations, a special symbolical significance; some are even accounted unlucky, and others lucky. Round some dark stories have gathered; others are connected with great triumphs in love and war. There is for some people a sort of fascination about precious stones which brings them to life and makes them full of meaning. Now, what I want to- point out to you is that every one of these precious stones upon which the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, is 'founded'is obviously intended to represent some good principle on which the new world must be built, and I want to-night to concentrate your attention upon one of these precious stones, U i twelfth and last of the foundations of the heavenly city, and just to indicate to you its nature and its teaching. "The twelfth an amethyst"; and why an amethyst? Let me translate "amethyst''; it is a combination of two Creek words, ••a,'- without, and "niethustos,' a drunkard. One of the characteristics of the new city was that it was without drunkenness or excess. That precious stone, the amethyst, stands for temperance. And, surely, my friends, it must be our prayer, aye, ,and our earnest endeavor that

ONE OP THE GREAT PRINCIPLES OF ! NATIONAL LIFE that shall come to the nations out of the heart of this war will be the great 1 principle of temperance. One of the discoveries of the war, one of the things that we have found out, and that other nations li&ve found out during these past two yeara is the demoralising effect that an unrestricted use of alcohol has upon the life-power of me®. Everyoue recog-

nises now that the effieipiK-v of v. soldier is impaired by drink, ami the knowledge lias made many thoughtful men consider deeply the whole question of the use and abuse of alcohol, and to look forward to a real and definite temperance reform in the future. Many moderate men who cannot accept total prohibition know now that tilings cannot go on, and must not go on as tliey were allowed to do in the days before the war. We may ha.o our own opinions as to the means of bringing about ;i true temperance reform. We may not all believe or we do not all believe in total abstinence or in prohibition as the ideal thing, but this is certain, and upon this we are agreed and should eonccntiate, thai; temptations to excess must be lessened and a greater control exercised over the sale of strong drink; and this, too, is eertain that unless our Government deals with the matter courageously many moderate men will in sheer desperation become tnlsl v'-diibitionists; and unless interested ■ u; • uviei's of what is known as "'rhe Trade" I in my opinion an absolutely legitimate trade) -ire re;'dy f-- j [accept certain moderate and neco«ssry reforms there will be soon no trade at all for them to support. As most of you know I am not an extremist; I believe in the significance of the amethyst. I believe that temperance, and not prohibition, is the ideal tiling, and for that very reason I appeal to all moderate men and women to press the Government now to adont certain simple means of restricdiun, which, priniarilv enacted in the interests of our soldiers, will. 1 believe, soon be recogni-ed to make lor the true welfare of the whole body of citizens. Tlie-e simple measures are the forbidding what i» called ''shouting'' and the compulsory closing of all bars at G o'clock. Jiegaidrd even as only temporary measures, 1 believe they will prove of incalculable value to the country. Soon more of our sol diers will be coming home. The streets of our towns, particularly of our big cities, will be thronged with men in khaki. There will be for them manv temptations (not only one, as some people seem to think, but many); vet undoubtedly the temptation to drink to excess will be constantly, and is new being constantly thrust upon them. All sympathetic and imaginative people can understand it. Reaction is aHvays n dangerous thing. Men who have snf. ferecl hardships and been constantly exposed to danger and have lived under strict discipline are bound to feel the swing of reaction When they return to the comforts of civilian life. Let us 1 face the facts and put silly, extravagant, ideas .«-st .we current i« laiglaud at the ti-.n, of its Bow war, that it is unpatriotic to 'luatir- -(kit a soldier can ever g» .wrong,- and Inn.; lie must be indulged to iop <tt lii* bent. The soldier is not; .such a, foci as to think- that himself. Whm they come home, what will undoubtedly happen? Some of the younger and more excitable will tind it hard to keep their heads; some of the weaker will easily succumb to the insistent, senseles s invitations of false patriots (many of them just goodhumored idiots) who imagine they are honoring the returned soldier by tempting him to dishonor himself. What a miserable thing that a soldier who has won a fair fame for himself on the field or battle should, tarnish the glory of it in the streets of his native town! The pity of it—the pity for him and the shame for us if we allow it. Let it rather lie our aim to protect the men who have so nobly protected us at the hazard of their lives, to shield them from evil who have shielded us from destruction, to safeguard their liberty who have kept us in our liberties at the price of their own blood.

-My friends. I have spoken of two useful mid legitimate pieces of legislation for a special purpose; wheihrr thc-fe measures lire to be the forerunners of oilier aiid more searching laws it is not my intention to discuss. But what 1 would urge upon you very strongly is ll'.is: if temperance is to be one of the foundations on which the new world is to be built; if that precious stone is to shine out in the nation's final crown of victory, then each individual life must show forth in itself that great principle. You and I must ,\cti the ani'etlivst over our l.earts. Don't let imagine thai temperance will turn the world into gloomy place and make of men weaklings and cowards. It is the clean, vigorous, strong, unselfish life that is the result of the wearing of the amethyst. It is such lives that preach the be.-t sermons, that work miracles in the lives of others, that will write the future history of the world. Upon the twelfth foundation of the amethyst is all tire history built. "The pages of human history," says a great thinker, ''are ven delusive. Historians do not understand that we are not greatly concerned about kings and rulers and the intrigues of courts. But what we do want to find written in glowing records is this: Who have been the real doers? Who have taught new truths? Who have lived lustrous lives? Who have soothed human suffering? Who have wrestled bravelv .vith national sin? Who have

saved multitudes from falling? Who have been co-workers with Ood in aiding the world in its effort after lioliness? To find these the historian must have eagle's eyes. Jlany he will never discover. -They have lived, worked and died and their very names are buried. But known or unknown, these are the true apostles, the true representatives of (Jod, the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the priests of humanity." May it be true olj us who own as Master the great High Priest of humanity, Who pleased not Himself, but gladly bore the infirmities of llis 'brethren, that we have helped to life the world on the path of progress towards Cod, and the amethyst, one of the foundations on which we strive to build the new world shall sparkle brightly in our own lives in that day when the Lord of Hosts shall make up His jewels.