SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 297, 4 June 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

WHOLESOME LIVING. The word wholesome means whole, sound having perfect health. Hawthorne speaks of a thoroughly wholesome heart and of the purifying influence scattered throughout the atmosphere of the household by the presence of one such heart. There are wholesome people who indeed exert a purifying and healthful influence wherever they go. They aio healthy, not in body only, but also in mind and in spirit. Such persons are blessings wherever they are found, full of life and of inspiration. Even unconsciously they diffuse strength, cheer, hope, courage by the mere influence of their presence. One mark of wholesomeness in a life is cheerfulness. It is not without its burdens, its cares, its trials ; but it has learned the lesson of victoriousness. Nothing breaks its glad-heartedness; nothing chokes its song of joy. The peace of Christ in the heart is the secret of it. There is an old Testament promise which says : " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." There is a New Testament work which bid 3 us be anxious about nothing, but to make every want known to God in prayer and then promises that the peace of God shall guard our heart and our thoughts in Christ Jesus. With tho peace of Christ in our heart, oven the sorest trials and the bitterest sorrows will not make life unwholesome ; rather the outcome of struggle and suffering will be the promotion of spiritual health. Sorrow rightly endured cleanses tho life of its earthiness and its unhealthiness and leaves it holier and more beautiful. Tne wholesome use of grief is the putting of its pain into new energy of loving and living. A wholesome life is marked by its generous and forgiving love which ever looks at and calls forth the best in others. Look at everything through kindly eyes. Thus it is Christ looks at us, seeing the best possibilities of our being and calling for the best that is in us. Another mark of wholesomeness in life is its activity. Action is necessary to health. Work is a means of grace. " Work for some good, be it ever so slowly : Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly ; Labor! all labor is noble and holy. * Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God," Thus a wholesome life is one of abounding moral and spiritual health, that lives according to the law of God, realizing the divine plan for it, Such a life is a benediction in the world. Its every touch is inspiration and its every influence is fragrance. Dr. R. J.Miller. (F). IS THE CHURCH DOOMED ? When Churchmen themsolves frankly ask such a question as this, it is plain that a serious state of affairs has como about. Our contemporary, tho Rock, tho most consistently Protestant of Anglican organs, hoads a startling leader in its last number with the ominous query, " Is the Church doomed ?" Such a question from any Nonconformist critic would be deemed both unkind and offensive. The serious thing is that churohmen, who know what are signs of the timos, and the condition of their communion, should have'begun to speak in such an accent of despair. The Rock upbraids many of tho prominent men in the chnrch. It is difficult to ascertain, from the confused lamentations poured forth, exactly what is the matter. We all know that the Romish idolatry is rife in the National Church, and that tho multitude of Evangelicals are reduced to mingled bewilderment, impotence, und cowardice. Our contemporary complains that God is being caricatured by thousands of clergymen, and represented as a heathen deity who is appeased by the physical sufferings of His children ! B.it we would observe that the people seem to like to have it so. Such blasphemous teaching is more popular than tho s» - eet and simple Gospel of tho Master. Pitualism grows in favour amongst our educated young people, and Evangelicisra is generally deteste I amongst the vast novelette-reading people. A sensuous and showy religion is generally relished by the majority of the church people of the day, and the clergy nre in large numbers becoming mere ministers of mass housss. If all this is to "go on much longer." says the Rock, " the Church of England must be doomed." Probably this cheerful prognostication will be greeted with mocking laughter in the very quarters where it should be heeded, The clergy and laity seem to be blinded by sacredotalism. A few rioters will not avert the doom. They might have found a more excellent way, but havo chosen the fatal method of constituting tho Ritualists a set of modern martyrs. Christian Commonwealth.