SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

F VITAL VIRTUES. M>. I—CHEE'RFULN’ESS, 'Be of- good cheer; I have overcome £he world —Saint John., xvL 33. <.By .Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) Our Lord was not afraid of repeating - Himself. He appears tv have had His favorite sayings, and this is one of them: “Be of good cheer.” The phrase is only used once in the Gospels by any other than Jesus Christ; but He used it over and over again. To the palsied man carried, into the Great Healer's presence the Master eaid: -Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven.” To . the-woman suffering from a wasting disease, Jesus said: “Daughter, be of good, cheer.” To the disciples in the wrack of the storm He came with the old words on his lips: “Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid.” To the Apostles on the eve of His passion, he said: In the world yc have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Then, after His ascension, Christ appeared to Saint Paul, saying: “Be of good cheer, for thou hast testified to Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also in Rome.” In each case it is not simply a' call to calm and courageous cheerfulness. Others • have said to w, 'Be of good cheer,” and

in saying it have rubbed salt into a sore wound . But Christ not only preached buoyancy and hope; He gave ample reason, and what is still more, He supplied example of His own radiant and infectious optimism. He was the most luminous example of the spirit he enjoined. Jesus never said. “Do as I say and not as T do,”, and He has been the real Encourager of Men. because His cheerfulness survived the shocks of cruel circumstances, and, like the rainbow, painted beauty on the clouds of a passing storm. His gladness was not the result of easy circumstances, but the conquest of a hard lot. “THE RELIGION-OF SORROW.” Yet Christianity has been called “the religion of sorrow,” and those who propound this theory seek to justify it by reminding us that the only crown Christ ever wore on earth was a twisted bramble; that the Old Testament depicts Him as the King of Griefs and Tears; and that, since He left the world, His Name has been t often on lips drawn by pain than on lips that rippled with laughter and song. They tell us that Christianity teaches doctrines of man, his nature, needs, responsibilities and guilt, that are deeper and more serious than ever prevailed before; whilst the New Testament doctrine of sin ajnd its inevitable penalty rests like a shadow' on the heart of the world. Besides, it imposes duties too heavy for human nature to carry. It demands the surrender of personal ease and gain. Its chosen symbol is a Cross of Sacrifice. Its supreme demand is self-renunciation. It pillories selfishness and indifference. It sensatises conscience and calls to tasks high and difficult. In a word, Christianity spells “kill joy,” and the only reason why Christians preserve even a semblance of cheerfulness is that they don’t seriously attempt to carry out the programme. If they really translated its doctrines into daily life, they would be petrified into permanent gloom. The Puritan who regarded mirth with horror . as mortal sin, and condemned, bull bait- | ing, not because it hurt the bull but because .pleased the spectator, is the typical Christian! In a w’ord, Christianity is the religion of sorrow! * Of course we do not accept such a misrepresentation. It is a travesty on religion as Jesus Christ taught it. It is a feature, not a face. It is Hogarthian, not Christian. Cheerfulness is one of the vital virtues of the Christian religion. All deep religion should be gladsome, and all strong religion will be so. Only when we speak of cheerfulness, we need to be clear what we mean. Good cheer is not levity, neither is it mere boisterousness, “the crackling of thorns under a pct.” Cheerfulness does not mean the light and chaffy temper that ignores the serious facts of life, and lives in a fool’s paradise. People have strange notions of having “a good time.” A New Zealand bushman will work hard for months, and then come to town and “knock down” his cheque in a drunken debauch and go back to his hard task to tell of his “good time!” Visitors to Paris will pay their silver franc for the privilege of going down to inspect the city sewers and regale their nostrils with a good stout stench! Presumably respectable people will pay to sit in the dark . at a picture show and laugh at films that i are a'skilful blend of brainless frivolity I and thinly disguised obscenity! One need not feel surprised that these folk | regard religion as a lark. But can any 1 state of mind be more pitiful and false? Rather than such shallow and ! simpering philosophy of life, commend ; me to the most pessimistic view. Jesus I Christ never under-estimated, and still I less ignored, the evil things of the I world: never healed the hurt of the daughter of Zion slightly. He never counselled the policy of hush up and make believe. He saw the world as it is, With the shadow of pain and death on its fact.

NOT SORROWFUL. It is true that the sorrowful, rather than the happy, have been attracted to Christ. It is true also that there is an element of sorrow, noble sorrow, in the Christian religion—sorrow for Christ’s sorrow, sorrow for sin which made Christ’s sorrow inevitable; sorrow for the world untouched by the Christian Redemption. It is true that the religion of the Cross hae revealed depths of pathos in human lives, and that this pathos has found its way into Christian literature and song. But while Christianity is a religion for the sorrowful, the defeated, and the broken on the wheel of unfriendly circumstance, it is not a sorrowful religion. The three greatmissionary religions of the world to-day are Mohammedanism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The first has no hymns, and never sings. The second is endeavoring to imitate Christianity, and is plagarieing our songs. Here is an example: “O for a thousand tongues to sing My holy Buddha's praise; The glories of my teacher great, The triumphs of his grace. Buddha, the name that kills our fears. That bids our sorrows cease. ’Tis music in the speakers’ ears, ’Tie life and health and peace. Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb. Your loosened tongues employ, Ye blind, behold your Buddha come, And leap, ye lame, for joy.”

;! Thus does the Buddhist Church seek rto graft on its hopeless creed something of the radiant songfulness of Christian generations. Christianity a religion of sorrow? Look at the facte- The New Testament is the most optimistic Book in the world. It opens with the herald , angels ’song; it ends with the superh picture of a redeemed multitude chanting victory, standing on' a sea of glass’ It tells of prisoners making night vocal with singing. It describes an Apostle writing his prison letters and repeating his injunction; "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice. Further. the New Testament .presents the glorious paradox that ‘'the Man of Sorrows,” who was “acquainted with grief,” was the gladdest, sunniest soul that ever breathed. Jesus Christ was no recluse. “The Son of Man came, eating and drinking-” He mingled with men in their social hours. He shared the simple joy of a rustic marriage. Even on the eve of His passion, and with the grim Cross flinging its horrid shadow athwart the darkening sky. He spoke of His joy being fulfilled, and Ho faced the Cross with a song! I know there is a monkish tradotion that Jesus never smiled! When asked for proof, we are told the Bible nowhere says that He smiled. The answer is no answer. The Bible nowhere says that Jesus coughed or sneezed. How could one so simple, so gentle, so good, wear a mask of perpetal gloom? How could the Joy Bringer to so many sad hearts be a stranger to joy? Little children are shrewd judges of character, and little children flocked to Christ’s side and nestled in His arms. MESSAGE OF HOPE. Moreover, it is according to the very genius of the Christian religion to minister hope and consolation. It attracts mourners, that it may give to them "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” It plants the Cross in the bitter waters of Marah and sweetens them. To the hopeless it brings hope, to the strcngthless strength, to the sinful pardon. It bids’ thd anxious cast their load on God. To the sorrowful it tells where grows the lovely flower called “heartsease.” To the dying it tells of the Life Immortal. Its fundamental doctrines are Divine Fatherhood, Human Brotherhood, and World-wide Altruism; truths which would transform the nations if once frankly accepted and | applied. Christianity the religion of sor- . row! How could it ever be that, with ! this great good news for men ?Armchair . theorists used to point to the unsophisticated savages of the South Seas, and describe their care-free and idyllic-state! Why disturb them? Their clothes never ‘ wear out, for. the simple reason they I have none! They were dressed in suni shine and fresh air'.They -are never worried with tradesmen’s hills! The tax collector never calls! They are not pestered for their votes and suffrages! Nature yields all they need, and life is one long summer holiday! Glorious simplicity and freedom! Of course the tribal wars, the drunken orgies, and cannibal feasts, were discreetly kept out of sight, and nothing said of the reign of terror! But when Darwin visited Tahiti, after Christianity had done its work, he confessed that, although he had been told that the Tahitians had become a gloomy race, toiling at religion and fearing the missionary, it would be difficult, even in Europe, to pick out of a crowd half so many merry faces. Christianity had opened a fountain of laughter in them. ' They had entered on a changed life. They had made the discovery that God's Name is Love, not Fear- Christ was their Saviour, Brother, Friend. They lived in gladness and goodwill, and their faces, once shadowed by fear and cunning, were now lighted with love, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost. Moreover, Jeous gave, and still gives, the pledge of victory. “I have overcome the world.” he says, and though it did not look like it then, and does not look like it now “We have preached Christ for centuries, •Until at length men learn to scoff, So few are any better off.” ACCEPT CHRIST’S LAW. Nevertheless, Christ holds the field and the only thing that can save modern life • from utter collapse is the frank acceptance of His law. Those who disown Jesus Christ should tell us I where else we can look for help and ; hope. It will be by way of Calvary, and i not by way of Parliament, the world will [ be saved. How, then, comes it that this popular

| misconception of Christianity has gained such currency ? How conies it that men should ever dream that “Christianity is the religion of sorrow”? If there ie no smoke without fire, what is the fire that accounts for the critics’ smoke? Three things explain it: False doctrine, 'false philosophy, and false practise. Think i of the representations of God that have i ruled the thoughts of men! A savage, i jealous, touchy God; a God of wars and i slapghter; a God who doomed nations ito extermination and whole cities to fire and sword, for the deeds of one man lof the tribe’ That is not the God Jesus preached and worshipped. But do we really believe that Jesus Christ’s cause will prevail? Do we believe that His Gospel fits the facts of life as a key fits the wards of a lock? Then why ask if the world is growing better or worse? Why talk about the present order being ended in a storm of fire and blood, and an elect- few being snatched like sailors from a hopeless wreck? Why talk of “nobody believing in the good old Book,” about "the old faith crumbling away,”; and “the old Church dead”? Why .talk of Christ coming in the clouds of heaven to catch up a few and leave the rest to the outpoured vials of wrath, with p” the plagues of Egypt thrown in? u Jesus is marching to universal dominion, why be melancholy? And if he is not, why be Christian at all? If Christians cannot “be of good cheer,” who can? Then why «re so many of them ill at ease? Let me answer that question with another: Why is the brook musical and the pool scum-ladened? Oh! get near to the Master. Live in His presence, and live for His great ends. Get your fingers off your own pulse and under your brother’s burden- If the mercury i« low you don't tap it with a crowbar -.you stand it in the sunshine, and Christ is moral sunshine. “He yet shall wipe away earth’<» tears. • and all the world shall summer in His smile.”