SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1916, Page 9

SUNDAY READING

CUEIST'S APPEAL TO YOUTH. SERMOX PREACHED BY REV. A. IT. COLVILE, M.A., AT ST. MARY'S CHURCH, XEW PLYMOUTH. "Jesus, looking upon Mm, loved him."—St. Mark x., 21. It is not my intention to go closely into the details of this incident in our Lord's life which the words of the text .bring to our minds. We all remember the rich young man who came running to Christ with the eager ([uestion on his lips. "What can I do to inherit eternal life?" He was a remarkable young man. He had kept all the commandments from his youth up. X T one of his neighbors could talk about Jiim in a nasty way or find any fault or Haw with his conduct; and yet lie was not satisfied with himself. More remarkable still, he had plenty of money and most of the good things of life that could be bought with money, and yet he wasn't satisfied. lie had met Jesus and had just glimpsed the truth that there were better things in life than the things that can be bought with money, and that religion might mean more than a correct code of morals, and so he stood before Jesus and put that second question about himself whimh proved the sincerity of the first, "What yet do I la'ck? Why am I not satisfied? What is this need in my nature that keeps urging me on to get at something more, that will not let me rest content? What yet do I lack?" And as the question came, as, thank God, it often does' come, from the eager heart of youth, Jesus, we read, "looking on him loved Mm." This passage is obviously the report of an eye-witness, probably St. Peter. 'He must have been watching the face of Christ at that moment, and seen the eyes suddenly deepen with tenderness and the face glow with swift desire. If only some great painter could have seen Christ's face at that moment, and could have transferred that look to canvas, and the picture been handed down through the ages, surely we should have learned more than the written word or the spoken word could ever convey of the wondrous motherlovc of God, of the yearning passion in the eternal heart of Christ for the wayward sons of men. THE REASON. Why is it specially recorded that Jesus loved this young man, He whose heart went out to all who needed His help? "Jesus looking upon him loved him." Was it because of his position? Jesus had so far gained as His followers only a few fishermen, a tax-gatherer, and one or two poor women. What might it not have meant to His cause to win the allegiance of one who stood high iii the respect of his fellows, one whose conversion would immensely strengthen the little band of disciples'? Without irreverence wo can imagine some such thought in the mind of oflr Lord, but most certainly that was not the reason for his love. Or was it because of the young man's impetuosity? I can't help thinking that that must have had something to do with it. It is recorded that the broad light of day,on the public highway, he came running and kneeled down careless of his position and what others might think of him. How this earnest spirit, this rare enthusiasm must have appealed to our Lord when so many were apathetic and stodgy and Tespectable. Or was it simply because of his youth ? Is ,it altogether wrong to assume that Jesus, who Himself was still young, 33 at the oldest, may have felt peculiarly drawn to a young man who would bring to the cause the idealism and venture of youth? Youth, as we know, attracts youth. A well-knciwn .preacher has said that he used to wish never to grow older than Jesus Christ was when He died, and that perhaps behind the sentiment of this wish there lurked a fear lest he should grow too old to understand Jesus. My friends, that is surely

ONE OF THE MOST DREARY TRAGEDIES OF LIFE, to grow too old for religion, to have shut the doors in 'heart and mind that once stood fearlessly open, to conform so closely to this world 1 and its low standards that all else is unrealisable; everywhere one meets such men, in the home, in the office, in the shop, at the club, on the golf links or bowling green, aye, even in the pulpit, men'whom one speaks of as "good fellows," but whom one feels instinctively have grohvn too "middle-aged" to understand Jesus. Well, I do not think we should be wrong in assuming that Jesus loved this man because of his youth and the keenness and enthusiasm which arc the natural heritage of youth. What I am saying now, though I pray that it may be of some service to all, is in the first place for the younger people, and my message briefly is this: Jesus loves youth; He loves you because you are young and hopeful and enthusiastic, because you want life and are keen to live every minute of your time, because of your great possibilities and the power of the youth that is in you. Christ loves you and wants you as He wanted that young man long ago. Let us think now for a few minutes of the youth of to-day. What sort of stuff is it to which Christ has to make His appeal? In the days before the was serious-minded and responsible people were not at all too happy about the rising generation, more especially as regards the future of family life and the home, on the stability of (Which, it is often said, the very life of our nation depends. Parental control was relaxing,, and was openly ignored or resisted. The phrase, "duty to parents," it was said, no longer appealed to young people. All the "duty" was on the side of those who brought children into the world. The children themselves had many rights and privileges, but owed no duties. And this spirit was making grave difficulty, not only for the home but for the State. An essayist writing in an English magazine a few months before the war says, "the work of tho world is only carried on by a spirit of loyalty to the 'whole, and there is growing up a spirit which refuses to recognise loyalty to anything but self. The old Victorian morality which pointed to the success of those who applied themselves in their youth and worked hard and 'lived laborious days' is treated now with scorn and contempt by the young. Who reads Smiles' "Self-help" or 'Duty' to-day The main object of youth is to do as little work and have as good a time as possible. 1 needn't if I don't want to' is the ideal. So more and more is all responsibility shirked and evaded by young people, and the machinery by which the community is run, threatens to break down, or fly to pieces; and this spirit is threatening the very continuance of the race." Is it surprising, ray friends, that this no-responsibility spirit should turn its

back on Christ and His demands? Think what he asked of the young ruler—complete renunciation of all the good things of life that lie had enjoyed; would not the youth of yesterday have utterly ignored such.a demand? If one's only duty is to oneself, and everyone else, including parents, are perhaps with kindness but always with determination to be thrust on one side, how can there be any ROOM FOR GOD in the life? What is there in modern youth to which Christ can appeal but to a character so crusted over with selfishness, so built up on the ideals of false independence, so impatient of control, so suspicious of the very words 'duty' and 'sacrifice' that His appeal is foredoomed to failure before it is made. And when youth rejects Christ, and can find nothing attractive in His and nothing compelling in His summons to "leave all and follow," then surely the day of Christianity is done and the future of the world is Mack indeed. My friends, how apparently different it is, how different it must be with the youth of to-day! What a change has come over the spirit of the young man's dream! How wonderfully the instinct for adventure has revived! What discoveries youth has made of its 6wn great possibilities! What about those words of Which, young men and women were so suspicious, "duty," "sacrifice"? They have become realities now. The young man of to-day lias felt the great need in his nature, '"What lack I yet?" and, speaking through the call of his country, has come to him the voice of Christ, "Leave all and follow," and no man who has obeyed can ever count his life a failure. Youth has found out that it is good to sacrifice everything for a great need. Aye. my friends, deep in the secret places of the soul God has written the word, "must." There is, that is, a spiritual necessity within a man who is worth anything to the world which urges him on to duty and sacrifice, and you can never entirely blot out God's eternal "must." Try to live for self, shirk your duty over and over again, stuff your life full of false ideals, smear your' soul deliberately with tho branding-iron of materialism, and you can't get rid of that "must." It may need a big thing. But 'we have got the big thing to-day, and the call from without has stirred into life the necessity within. Thank God, who lias written tliat "must" upon your souls that it has not utterly .perished and has hecome the mainspring of life in this hour of trial. "Leave all and follow"—renunciation, the hardest word in youth's dictionary; and has not youth'begun now to understand it, shown itself capable of obeying, aye, even learned to love what one; it seemed to hate? Whether it be the men who have gone or the women who have helped them to go, all alike have come, it may be unconsciously, into touch with Christ; they have joined the company of those of each one of •whom it may he said, "Jesus, looking upon him, loved him." Yes, and to-day

YOUTH HAS 13KEX TOUCHED with the transforming finger of sorro|w. Tiie shadow of death lias fallen across the primrose path of life, and the sword lias pierced young hearts which had never experienced the pain of loss and desolation. The strain of deep anxiety has been felt in many young lives. Life has become for the young a more irious and solemn thing. Shaken now >re youth's ideals of a good time and an easy.life; does it not seem like treason to your brothers who have gone to cherish them? But, my friends, out of sadness that has shut them aivay, new possibilities have dawned on the soul oi youth; a new power of sympathy, of unselfishness, of gentleness, of thoughtfulness, of service to others. Great things—and it needed a great thing and a hard thing to discover them—"Him they compelled to bear the cross"; yes, to many young people life may seem now hard, bitter* rough as the path to Calvary—yet remember it .is the Cross of Christ that you are compelled to bear, and there is always a transforming power in that Cross—you cannot touch it without touching the Christ, and. believe me, it is only by the destruction of those false gods which, set up for the soul to worship, that the true and only God can he realised, that the service of Christ can become a reality, that His appeal can find its way into the heart of youth, and call forth that response which satisfies the deepest need oi a man's nature, and grasps the meaning of eternnl life. CHRIST ALWAYS YOUXG. "Jesus looking on him loved him." So 1 seem to see youth standing before Christ to-day, as that young man stood before Christ long ago—youth transformed, sobered, earnest, conscious of its needs. You, my younger brothers and sisters, are face to face with Him now. Like that young man in the story, you have great possessions, powers of heart and mind, zeal and enthusiasm, great capacities for love and service, possessing which so many of us older people have frittered away in the past, and our tragedy is that we cannot give you our experience, that we 'have grown many of us too old to understand youth, and are tempted, therefore, either to indulge or to criticise. But Christ is always young. He has always the heart oi youth, full of love for all, full of hope for all. yet never going back from His great demand, "Leave all and follow." You are not like the youth of yesterday. You have learnt to understand what that demand means, and vou would not have it otherwise. It is the summons to a great adventure.

•'Sol] all and give to the poor"—put all those possessions of yours, aye, and the greatest of all, the possession of your youth at His service, and He will use them to comfort the poor of His people, the needy and sorrowful, the anxious and bereaved, the sinners and outcasts, those whose souls are barren of faith and hope and love, whose lives are empty of God. He will use you and your great possessions to transform life and enrich the future of the world. You know the great opportunity of the Church give you now in Confirmation. It is the direct, practical appeal of Christ to youth, to dedicate all its powers to Him, to bring all its capacities to the }>reat adventure of life, and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit Who guide and controls and strengthens the inner life, and makes great things possible to the soul. Is there not to-day that stuff in you that will answer His call and respond to His demand, Who offers to youth in return what the world cannot offer, Who turns sorrow into joy, gives strength in labor, peace in the storm, rest on the Cross, life in the grave, Who look on you and loves you now? C =====