OBEY THE LAWS OB1 GROWTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1921, Page 9

OBEY THE LAWS OB 1 GROWTH.

You will have noticed that I have usedi one sentence over and over again, “Obey the laws of growth and you will grow.” Will you think that sentence over? What are the laws of growth? If the time wasted in trying to grow were spent in fulfilling the conditions of growth, we should add some cubits to our stature. How do the lilies grow? By means of light, warmth, moisture, atmosphere, and for the growth'of the soul the spiritual equivalents are needed. “God is light,” there is the first condition. “Keep yourselves in the love of God,” there is the second condition. “I will be as the dew unto Israel,” there is the third condition. “Walk in the Spirit,” that is the fourth condition. Light, moisture-, warmth, atmosphere, and man cannot manufacture either of these, any more than he can manufac-; ture himself. The lily does not create, it simply appropriates what God has provided. It lives, moves, and has its being in them. Sunshine and shower, warmth and wind, make their appeal to the plant. They press their ministry on the flower, and say “use us, let us help you to grow, live in us, and we will live in you.” The lily grows by abiding in the warm sunlight, by sipping its cup of dew, by breathing the living air, and all this is quiet and effortless; all of which is true of growth in grace. Our part ia not to toil and strain; our part is to preserve right relations. As Drummond says: “Christianity is not a, system of mechanics'; it is a doctrine of grace.” The problem of Christian living is to preserve the right attitude and atmosphere. A good deal of work is done on board a sailing vessel, and yet none of it is spent in making the ship go. The sailor harnesses the vessel to the wind, puts sails and rudder in position, and lo! the miracle is wrought. God creates, man utilises. The work of the world is done simply by taking advantage of the energies that are there already. God gives .the wind, the water, the heat, and man puts himself in the way of the wind, fixes hie water wheel in the way of the river, puts his piston in the path of the steam, and Nature does the rest. So is it in the spiritual realm. Our part is to hold ourselves in the right attitude before God’s spirit and preserve the right atmosphere, and Divine omnipotence will carry the soul forward. I cannot say all I should like on the subject of spiritual atmosphere, but it is there we must look for an explanation of our barrenness. j

THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE. In his early life Mr. Keir Hardie was a lay preacher, and preached a sermon which none who heard are ever likely to forget. His text was “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.” "How do they grow?” asked the preacher. Plant them in good soil and allow them plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and you will see. But put them down at the bottom of a pit shaft in darkness and coal dust, and how will they grow then? Mr. Hardie applied that to the social condition of the workers, but his words have wider application. We live in an atmosphere of worldliness.

Professor Huxley says the soil of England is full of tropical seeds of bewildering variety. These seeds have been carried there by the winds, and by the agency of -the birds. There they lie, tropical luxuriance, in a dormant state, waiting for -what? Waiting for the tropical atmosphere. If the Homeland were visited by tropical heat for twelve months, the whole face of England would be changed’ Oh! the powers that lie dormant in our lives’ The powers God’s hand has planted and intended to develop. But the seeds of grace are non-germinant because the atmosphere is unfriendly. If the warmth of heaven enswathed our souls these lovely things would come trooping out of their graves, and we should be won-der-struck to see how rich we are in Jesus Christ.