SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

THE LURE OF THE DISTANT. ‘ The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” —Ece. H. 14. “But the eyes of a fool arc in the ends of the earth.” e —Prov. XXH. 24. (By Rev. A. LI. Collins, New Plymouth.) A proverb hos been defined as “the wisdom of many And the wit of on",’’ as “a golden coin in the currency of thought,” or, to quote Tennyson’s memorable lines: “Jewels five words long. That on the stretched forefinger, Of all time, sparkle for ever.”

; Proverbial philosophy is the oldest form !of literature in the world. The nations 'most remote from our own bad their aphorisms, terse, wise, sententious sayings, which passed from lip to lip, and age to age, and finally found expression in the Book of Proverbs. We have grown wordy and bookish, and therefore ceased to write proverbs. Instead of “apples of gold in baskets of silver,” we have gold leaf in lumbering waggons, painted in gaudy colors. These two excerpts from the wisdom literature of the East, though found in different books, and separated by years, are attributed to the same pen. and deal with the same subject. The English proverb which says •Fair fowls have fair

' feathers,” hits the same truth. The vice | pillorirtl in these proverbs. Eastern and i Western, is the disposition to mike i much of the distant and the rare, and io think little of the near and the familiar. We are all apt io be discontented with what we have, or could easily obtain, and experience inordinate desire for the impossible, or the remotely possible. Objects far awny, experiences difficult to attain, arrest attention and excite remark. Things Kurrounded by a halo of grandeur and romance are isure not to j escape ntftice or support, whereas the ! things which 15e at our door, the persons | who sit at our table, the events happening in our own district, lack recognition. So hard is it to see the divine in the familiar, the great in the- near, and the sacred in the ordinary. Yet the mis■hief wrought by this state of mind is vast and far-reaching; for no true greatness of mind, and no true nobility of character, are possible so long as we hug the delusion that greatness and nobility are only to be found in far-off time and space, and in circumstances essentially different from our own. Small hope have we of making the most, and the best oi life so long as our hearts are set on the future. We must understand that what ptakes life great anil good depends on ourselves, and that our one chance of profiting by the remote is the resolute use of things near at hand. That is the meaning oj, the<ie wholesome though somewhat Tough proverbs. “The wise man’s eyes are bi his head,” that, is to say, his interests, thoughts, aims, are close at hand. He takes advantage of the present; he finds pleasure and profit in the ne/ir. ‘ Bht the eyes of a fool are ■ n the ends of the earth,” groping and grasping after pleasure and profit afar off, lie misses those which lie ready to hand. UNStEKN BEAUTIES.

Take one of the commonest examples. Aon find multitudes of people who go into hysterics about a rare and costly flower or plant from some far-off land, and yet these same people give no consideration to the equally wonderful and beautiful things which grow in. their own garden, or within a mile of their own garden gate. Men and women express ecatacies of delight at the fla«h of a diamond, and care nothing for the myriad drops'of dew that tremble in the light of the morning. The appearance of a comet excites remark from people who never pause to wonder and worship /n the presence of the pomp and splendor of the midnight sky. A flash of lightning startles; the dawning anil dying of the day is nothing. People risk life, and spend, the savings of years, in order to see the sights of other lands, and remain heedless of the marvels visible in the ever-changing scenery of the clouds, and the bursting buds of spring. It is not that there in no beauty at home, but we have not trained ourselves to reap “the harvest of the quiet eye.” The “wee modest crimson tipped flower,' stirred the heart of Robert Burns. A clump of dancing, golden daffodils made a poet of William Wordsworth.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.’’

So with the interest men take in human life. The romance, the poetry, the tragedy of life, are sought afar off, though they oftener lie at home. One reason for the inordinate crave for trashy novels is just this, that the novel is enveloped in a golden haze of idealism. Deeds of impossible prowess, stories of hairbreadth escapes, love sublime, an sacrifices worthy of the gods, fill the pages, until the readers’ fancy is stirred and life swims in a delicious haze. Ah! but ‘ the wise man’s eyes are in his head.” Truth is stranger than fiction. The

greatest heroes are those in common life. The bravest deeds are not done on

battlefields drenched in blood, they are done in the factory and the home. The wisest, delineators of human character have chosen subjects near at hand. Biftns lived amid some of the finest scenery of Scotland, but his greatest poem is no high-pitched, thrilling story of lords and ladies, and their wonderful exploits, but just a faithful picture of ’The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” when he gathered “weans and'wife” for prtiyer and instruction in the things of God. Dickens found his chief characters among street gamins and hnm'ble toilers in the East End of London, and these supplied romance enough, and a surfeit of tragedy. George Eliot’s best-drawn characters are ‘•Adam Bede,” “Dinah Morris,” and “Felix Holt,” the one a vil-

]<age carpenter, one a Methodist, maiden,, and one a radical citizen. Life tame and dull! Tt is only so if we lack in-

sight and imagination. If you seek heroes and saints, you need not go to battle-fields, or to convents; you may find them in the next street disguised in moleskins and in dowdy gowns. Emmanuel Kant, the greatest philosopher of modern times, was never more than a few miles from his native city, yet he found in the study of the human mind an inexhaustible field. Socrates, the greatest teacher of Greece, never left Athens save on a few rare occasions when the exigencies of war compelled i it, but he found interest enough in his I fellow citizens in the market place. Life ■dull! Why, every second person yon : meet has a bit of romance, and not. a ' day passe? but you look into the face

of men and women who bear the scars of battle with ghostly enemies.

SPECULATIVE AGE.

A third example of the truth of these proverbs is the subjects that engross men’s minds. This, • is an intellectually restless and speculative age, and some people areafraid of it. AVe need not fear the spirit of free enquiry. Increased thoughtfulness does not mean decreased religion. There is small reason to fear we shall suffer from thinking too deeply on the great doctrines of religion. Our danger lies in quite the opposite direction. But “the. wise men’s eyes are in his head.” The subjects best worth pondering are not speculative; they are severely practical. You may treat the subject of God, sin, redemption, and immortality in a controversial way, or in a humble and teachable spirit. You may be ever examining the foundations and never building, always analysing the bread of life and never eating. Speculation may take the place of faith, and so be robbed of the working force of life. The revival of spiritualism and second adventism is no good sign. You may know enough of God to trust Him; enough of Jesus Christ to follow Him; enough of the Holy Book' to shape life by its precepts and commandments; enough of religion to understand that “to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God,” 'is l the main thing.

Finally, the near is the most important, as it concerns our work. It is not circumstances that make life great or i good, it is how we handle circumstances. It is not the block of marble that explains the breathing statue, but the sculptor’s patience and skill. It. is not the brushes and paints, but the artist’s genius that accounts for the noble picture. We have the rough material put into our hands, and the. spiritual results depend on our use of it. <Jut of the same stuff you may build a pig-stye or a palace. You read of brave and unselfish deeds in far-off lands and times. Is there no cross you might carry in the same spirit? You read of examples of self-effacement for the sake of another; is there no one in your circle for whom you may do the same? You hear of missionary devotion in India; is there no friend or neighbor for whose salvation you might plan and work? Is there any reason why yon should expect Christian devotion and heroism in the far-awav land, to eclipse devotion and heroism in New Plymouth? Isn’t it true-as Keble sings: s.

“The trivial round, the common task Will furnish all we ought to ask; Room to deny ourselves; a road To bring us daily nearer God.

Aye! Closer yet, “the wise man’s eyes are in his head.” and the truly wise man looks within and keeps his eyes on his own heart, for out of it are “the issues of life.” "Go thy way for this time; when L have a convenient season 1 will call for thee,” cried Felix. Did the “convenient season” ever come? Does it ever come to the man who procrastinates, and whose eyes are in ttye ends of the earth “Open Thou mine, eyeis that 1 may behold the wondrous things out of Thy law,” may be translated to mean, ‘‘Open Thon mine eyes to see the wondrous things in the present hour, the present, sphere, the present task, with its prosaic calls and claims.

“What times are little? That hour is regal when The sentinel mounts on guard.