SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

PERILS OF THE HOUR. . “Hut Icn-ow this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.” —IL Timotny, 111. L >/ (By Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) »[ Saint Paul was not a pessimist. Rai taer let ns say that he was “a born, ■ | sworn, twice born, stubborn born optii mist.” He lived and labored in the [ i strength of a sublime faith, in the ac- - ; traction and power of the Christian Gcs- | pel. His soul glowed with the sunlight ■ | of heaven. He proclaimed a salvation ■ | as wide as the sin. But “the wise man’s ‘ [ eyes are in his head,” and this God’s i good man faced facts. He saw clearly , | that the world is a field of battle, where - antagonistic forces are arrayed in dead- | ly conflict, jand that he who would be crowned a conqueror must be armed for ’ [ the conflict. With prophetic insight, he 11 forecasted perils that would be peculiar ‘ • to successive periods of history, dangers J j that would mark days of privation and j persecution,' and dangers that would be 1 I common to days of ease and luxury. ; Hence he sounded the tocsin: “In the | last days perilous times shall come.” > Now, I have no wish to cry “Wolf!” 1 jl cannot join with those who find dismal ‘ I pleasure in praising “the good old -] times” while they growl their dreary ■ iprotests, at the present order. It is fash- : ionable to be sad and cynical, but it is a 1 ' weak and ’wicked fashion. It is a poor 'i a nd shallow philosophy that leads men L i to conclude that “the former times were - better than these,” and the delusion [ would be dispelled by fuller knowledge and j aster judgment. We need distance 5 to see things in their proper perspec- • tive. God who is hidden in a day is ’ [not hard to find in a century. It is not ■'Sin blindness, and arrogance, and pride, [ that we say this is the best age the ‘ j world has ever known, the age that is • [ furthest from the roaring of the wild I 'beast, amid which human life began, and 1 I nearest to the singing of the angels ’ ' amid which human life shall find its cul--1 i miriation. This is the best age just because it is the oldest x of the ages and ‘ heir to the vast moral wealth which has ’ i taken aeons to accumulate. That the ’ ; best tends to growing ascendancy is the 1 : witness of the best minds. The will of I God is the will of eternal goodness. But ' [ the possession of this faith does not ■ blind us to present evils. Nay, it makes us look at them with closer scru- ’ tiny and deeper courage, more keenly, ’ because only in this way can we discover the cause and find the remedy, more courageously, because it is part of our high calling to co-operate with God 1 in His eternal purpose of redemption. I say, then. Saint Paul forecasts dangers common to days of persecution and loss, and dangers peculiar to times of ease and luxury. The perils that threat- ’ en ue are of the latter order, and I name them not because I despair, but in or- ’ der that we may escape their dominion. , First, there is the peril lest we allow ’ religious speculation to take the place I of robust faith. This is an age of growJ ! ing freedom. We are at liberty to search ’■and sift. We are not compelled to acL ■ cent opinions anil beliefs, with all the ; dread consequences of a barbaric past. ; Men have grown more tolerant, and ■ ! though it still happens that we a r e ' [sometimes cast out of the sanctuary of ’ i the orthodox, we arc not hanged on the Iseaffc'd or burned at the stake. The j base spirit of the persecutor is not dead, . . bv.t it is in chains, and ite claws are ' clipped. This is the day of freedom, to ’[think and let think. But freedom has ' I its perils. Wo may questions with more, boldness than reverence. Liberty ‘‘sometimes leads perilously near to • license. Free enquiry in our heritage. ' the boon for which our fathers battled ■ ■ and bled, and it is profitable. It is the ! human process by which tile treasures of, ' truth are discovered. Just as free en- ’ quiry in the realm of seicnee has brought to light the resources of the physical universe, so the free enquiry of reverent souls has discovered the hidden treasures of Divine truth. Nor is there the smallest reason to fear that fuller inv’e-stigation will undermine truth. But speculation may injure! our best life unless checked by reverence and humility. A man may be always exam ining the foundations, and never bu.i.'d- ( ing thereon; always analysing the food of the soul, and die of spiritual starvation. Speculation may take the place of faith, and oo lose the working force of life. If in religion there is room for free investigation, and of course there L i-, there are some settled facts which are as i he foundation and food of the soql, i and it is on these we are railed to build [and live. For example, there is room ‘[for speculation ns Io the nature of the I sun, hut it is .t settled fact that the i | sun is the source.of light, whose beams ‘ ' incarnate themselves in a . thousand forms of life end beauty. Tn the same , way there is room for reverent speculation concerning the person and the 1 mission of Jesus Christ, but it is a • settled fact that it is from Him the i mural an l spiritual world derives its life and health, oml force and beauty. There ■ is room for free enquiry into the contents of Net.ire. but ii is certain that • the food of our physical life is ■ there, and there is room for free invesI tigati n of the growth and meaning of ’ i these sacred writings, but it is certain that the great ethical and spiritual ' leaching of (he Holy Book are the food of the soul. There is room for questions about the laws of the material world, ; but it is a settled fact that obedience to those laws means life and disobedience ' I spells deat'h. So in the realm of religion. But' it i«< on the assured facts cf rejjgion wr are called to live anj labor. Our business is to build character rather ( than battle for creeds, “He ean’t be wrong whose life is lit the right.” Faith is the dynamic of the soul, and it is by , | relying on the facts of religion, ob'eyin." , i ins laws, am! receiving its essential , spirit, that we shall escape a life that is paralysed by doubt or frittered away . I by vain and profitless speculat ions. i 4 GRAVER PERIL. i A second and graver peril is that of i halving a religiouis reputatinn without religious conviction and experience. The three factors in the formation of ehar- • after are heredity, environment, and ’choice. Wo cannot ignore the bia= of birth. Taint of blood .and twist of will i tell on life. Circumstances arc to the. ■soul what atmosphere is to tbe plant. . ■ If a man exercise no power of sovereign choice, to correct and control the ' in fl nonce of birth and circnm<stanoe< l these become the shaping hands which mould ch-dor. But these shaping s hands differ with the hour. Go back a i little, and ask yourself what was the ■ regnant influence in the religious life of the Puritans, for example. It was con- ; science. Their moral sense was strong. • They wore far from perfect, but they i had deep and serious convictions. They to Qhrist for pardon with a vivid

sense of personal sin. Dark fears shadowed their hearts, and they felt that tremendous issues were at stake. When they faced right and wrong they faced the judgment seat and acted with that in view. Hence you had a race of strong and serious men. to whose fidelities w\owe our sacramental liberties. The influences operating to-day are different. 1 he.sense of sin is a lost sense. The appeal is to the emotions rather than to the will, to the feelings more than to conscience, to sentiment and not to principle. The false stimulus of sensation is applied, and men are trying to force the frujts of good living by the fires of animal fervor, instead of'allowing them to grow under the quiet and genial influence of God’s good spirit. Entertainment is taking the place of edification. That which pleases the ear is preferred before that which instructs the mind and cultures the heart. We seek pleasant surges of feeling, and dreamy emotions, rather than reverence, and truth, and duty. . Public worship, once regarded as a matter of duty, is now a question of taste and convenience. Religious principles, which our fathers ‘held to be more than worldly policy or temporary gain, are held with a slack hand, in the <name of a spurious charity. I know there are exceptions. The mission field has its heroes and martyrs. I know, too, that conscience must not bo a task-master The genius of Christian!t.y is love that draws, and not law that drives.. But love is only' strong as it is righteous. The constraints of pure love, and an illuminate conscience, are needful to a ■strong; and winsome character. The one without the other will give you a hard and loveless puritan or a faddy and flabby sentimentalist; the two combined will make an ideal Christian. And I say one of the perils of the hour is a piety that is puerile, a religion that is not righteous, a religious reputation that is not' rooted in conviction and reinforced by a growing experience.

Finally there is the peril of missing life’s chief end in its manifold pursuits. Beyond any preceding age this is the age of activity. Day and night, wc are engrossed in business and pleasure. We may preach against it, but it is like preaching against Niagara. It suits some natures to live in n whirl, and they make the pace. But the best interests of life are jeopardised. We are missing (he goal of manhood and goodness. We arc not here to make a living, but to live the full. rounde<l, pure life of rich '.houghts, wealthy affect ions and helpful .crvice. Eat,’ sleep, work, sport—what a squalid interpretation of life that is! Even our so-called religious activity may he quite irreligious. The verb “to be” is more than the verb “io do.” If spiritual ends are. sacrificed on the shrine of worldly sueeesa, if pleasure is , life’s chief purpose, instead of a pastime, if eonsf-ience is silenced on the plea of convenience, if we haven’t time to serve God, it means wc haven't time to live, fn the church, and outside of it, we must mak.e time for quiet thoughts and quiet prayers and the quiet poise of the soul before God. Our best life cannot be lived in an atmosphere of bustle and excitement. The church must be the spiritual liome.. It must, not be made into a cheap concert room, a place for Sunday amusement, with a ministry of brief, extempore addresses on trumpery topics. The church the hour demands is not a sensationalised and secularised church, with superficial and passinginterests, but a church whose centre of attraction is the worship of God and the service of man. Re it remembered that ouv privileges ontnumb.r our perils. W<« live amid a perfect network of helpful ministries. The air we breathe is charged with Christian influence Christ is the sun‘whose light and warmth have brought springtide to the world, and if wo stand in His blessed light we may escape the perils that threaten, nd find life rounded into perfection, and touched into imperishable beauty.