SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 291, 21 May 1898, Page 6 (Supplement)

SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

REMEDIABLE MISERY. The Bishop of Durham, Dr. Wcstcoti, in a Lenten pastoral, says that the Jubilee celebrations brought out before tho world in striking imagery the grandeur of our heritage, and our willingness, if need be, to die in its defence. The dullest must have gained a new idea of what we owe to our fellow men. Our social and personal ide.-s ahoulil have been ennobled, and the universal welcome accorded to Kudyard Kipling's noble Recessional showed that the nation thought so. Yet the sense of brotherhood is not a ruling f<rec among us. " Christians,'' it has been well said, " are the only Bibles which the world reads" —but "the general tone of popular literature in society, friendly and considerate for the most part, shows that the Christian faith is hardly taken seriously by men at large. It is t-cated as the Greeks treated philosophy. To invoke Christian principles in dealing with domestic or international questions is held to be out of place. What w;e need is that laymen, overcoming their natural reserve, should take their place in spiritual work through their ordinary busineEs. We need to accept no rest till every Churchman and Churchwoman has recognised the good works which God lias prepared for them to do. No legislative changes, either political or economic, are adequate for the regeneration ot society, which can only come through a spiritual agency —the Incarnation, in which lies the sure charter of human brotherhood. Encompassed as we are on all sides by remediable misery, our faith should find expression in our daily business. The initiative in Christian social work belongs properly to the National Church in virtue of its history and inheritance, and in spite of hummer nble sorrows and distresses the outlook is not without encouragement. THE SERIOUSNESS OF LIVING-. All life is serious. We are not butterflies, to flutter a little while in the air and then drop into the dust. The words we speak and the things we do are beginnings of immortalities. We are not done with anything in life as it passes out of our hands. Nothing is indifferent. There is a moral character in all that we do. Either we are blessing the world or sowing the seed of a curse in every influence that goes out from us. It becomes us, therefore, to give conscientious thought to all our life. St. Paul tells us that God and we are co-workers ; without God man can do nothing, while God's perfect work needs man's best. In spiritual work God needs our faithfulness in doing His work on human lives. That is, He has ordained to use us and we are held responsible for doing well our part. Our unfaithfulness may mar the work of God. We are all builders on the life-walls of others. "What opportunities for edifying each other we all have in our conversations, as we sit together or walk by the way ! How, too, do We build on the walls of our own character. " The fire, 3 ' says St. Paul, " shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. What ever in it is gold, silver, costly stones, shall abide ; but whatever is wood, hay, or stubble, shall perish." The things we arc putting in the lives of others are they imperishable things—things that will be elements of beauty in the immortal life ? We must remember that it is not enough to be busy, active, ever doing something ; the work we do must be true work for God, such as will really bles3 the world. —Dr. J. R. MILLKR. God bends from out the deep and says—- " I gave thee the great gilt of life : Wast thou not called in many ways ? Arc not My earth and Heaven at strife? I gave thee of My seed to sow— Bringest thou Me thy hundred-fold ':" Can I look up with face aglow, And answer, " Father, here is gold':" —Lowell (F.)