SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

?THE LAW OF AFFINITY. “And being let go, they went to their own company.”—Acts IV., 23. (By Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) You know the story that enshrines the text. Two of the Apostles had been arrested and imprisoned. They had been brow-beaten and threatened. They had been offered liberty on conditions which were shameful, and they rejected the offer with noble scorn. The proposal was made in complete ignorance of the main element of the case, and it revealed the weakness of the enemy and the strength of the Apostles. It was as if some tawny savage, who saw a cannon charged and discharged for the first time, should rush to the muzzle and think to prevent an explosion by ramming the gun with sawdust, because he did not know the power of gunpowder when touched by a live spark. The rulers thought they could stifle truth by ramming threats of punishment down the throats of the preachers. The prisoners did not deceive their judges. Swift as a flash they answered, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God judge ye.” It is not always necessary to tell all. you know. Duty demands silence on some subjects. The obligation to speak depends on the nature of the message. When a polished gun receives a sunbeam on its surface, it is under the law of *hecessity to let the light shine. Obviously the rulers were baulked; but to keep up appearances they threatened the Apostles and released them, and instead of loitering about the city or fleeing beyond its confines, they sought “their own company.

It seems a very simple thing to say, something that calls for no remark; but as a matter of fact it is a very deep and significant statement. The words record a fact and illustrate a universal law—a law that rules the planets in their courses, and reaches the uttermost bounds of matter law which underlies the instincts of lower animals —a law which divides society into groups and classes, and explains the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. In the physical universe we pall it “gravitation”: in the animal world we call it “instinct”; in human society we call it In religion we call it “the law of the spirit.” But the different names cover the same fact. Like attracts like. In the physical world “every particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force directly proportionate to the mass of the attracting particles and evenly to the square of the distance.” That is Sir Isaac Newton’s monumental definition. It explains why the apple falls, and water will not run uphill If you imprison an atom of air in the battered hulk of a sunken ship it may remain there for one hundred or a thousand years, J»ut when the vessel breaks r? the panicle of air rises through leagues of sea, in the form of air bubbles, and joins “its own company.” A lamb is caught in a thicket or confined in a fold, and submits to superior force; but withdraw the restraints and restore its freedom of action, and it will bound across the meadow and never rest until, with panting sides and heating heart, if stands with the flock. Imprison a bird behind gilded bars and perforce it is separated from its mate, but open the cage door and Jiow swiftly it flies home. By the- same law “the sow that is washed’ returns to her wallowing in the mire.” So in the world of men. They gather in groups, they form clubs and societies according to intellectual and moral sympathy. Lovers of Browning meet to study their favorite author. Gamblers meet at Tattersall’s and discuss “the odds.” Christians foregather to speak of Jesus and His love. This law of affinities may be violated. Many things beside iron bars prevent men following their bent. Fear of consequences, prudence, or self-interest, hold men back. But remove these artificial barriers, and set men free to do as they like, and go where they please, and you will discover what they really are.

“A man is known by the company he keeps,” by the books lie reads, by the things that he praises and blames. Frivolous folk seek persons of their own light and chatty temperament. An enthusiast in any* cause gravitates to thpse who share his enthus*iams. “I am a companion of all them that love Thy Name,” said David, and there you have an illustraxtion of the law of affinity. This law had already powerfully affected Saint Peter and Saint John and drawn them together. Companions of Christ in His public ministry, companions at the cross and the sepulchre, they became companions in publishing the good news, and so, when their mutual love was warm, and the enemy’s hate was hot and sharp, they stood sidejiy side in the court of the rulers. I know there is a law of opposites. A man’s robust strength and a. woman’s gracious gentleness may lead to plighted love. The rugged and impetuous temperament of Simon Peter supplied the complement to Saint John’s calmer mood, but the bond between these two, and tlieir fellow Christians, lay deeper than temperament. They had a common faith, a common hope, a common life, in Jesus Christ. They were pledged to the same enterprise, and when they were free men“they wept to their own company.” Do let us try to lay hold of this simple, fundamental law of

Here in a memorable phrase you have the means of judging life. “A man is known by the things that he praises.” Our

likes and dislikes are revelations to our character. We judge ourselves every day by the pleasures we enjoy, the books we read, the company we relish. When the day’s work is over, and the mind is free, where do your thoughts turb, who are your friends, what is your ambition? Tell me that and I shall know you: I shall know whether you would feel at home in heaven. For this law of affinity sheds light on the final issues of life. The history of every living soul will be this that the spirit, freed from the prison house of the flesh, will go to its own company, the company for which its previous earth life has prepared it. “Judas went to Lis own place,” the place and the company for which his career had fitted him. What else could have happened? What of Jesus? He too went to His own place. Open the cage door and the dove flics in one direction and the carrion crow in another. “The holy to the holiest leads.” “He' that is filthy, let him be filthy still.” It is the law of affinity at the Great Assize. I don’t profess to know half as much about future rewards and punishments as some people do. It is no subject for a riot of rhetoric. The language of scripture is sober and restrained and sane. But lieaven and hell are not the arbitrary appointments of a celestial despot. Eternity is woven out of the warp and woof of daily deeds, in the looms of time. Death works no magic change. The grave is not transforming. We shall be the same five minutes after £ea.th that we were five

minutes before death, and a momentary spasm of repentance at the last can t blot out the effects of a life-time of sin. Dogmatism ill befits frail mortals, jlmt we have a robust common-sense that refuses to believe that it does not matter whether a man has lived like Saint Paul or Caligula. We can never crush out the conviction that there must be one place for Nero, and another for “that disciple whom Jesus loved.” You have seen sheep and swine feeding in the •same paddock till the evening, when the sheep were gathered in their fold, and the swine ran greedily to their sty. and the last complaint it occurred to you to make was that the farmer had separated them, and the last suggestion won offer would be that they should lie * 1 together. The fitting thing had UivW -'' pened. “Being let go they w’ent to their own company.” 9