SUNAY READING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2592, 28 August 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNAY READING.

OUR BURDEN -BEARER.'

The little sharp vexations \ And the briars that catch and fret, \ Why not take all to the Helper Who has never tailed us’yet? Tell Him about the heartache, And tell Him the longings, too; Tell Him the baffled purpose When we scarce know what to do. Then, leaving all our weakness With the One divinely strong, Forget that we bore the burden, And carry away the song. whatlsTheaven ? (By Dr. Wilbur Chapman.) It is a place of over-powering brightness. Everything that ever came from thence tells us so. Chariots so bright that tho only thing to which they could bo likened was fire. Angels with faces shining so that men must veil _ their eyes before them. Moses and Elias so surrounded with glory that the three disciples were overcome with the vision on the mount of transfiguration. The walls are like a great jewel, the streets of pure gold, and every single gate a pearl. You know the brightness of one little, gem as it sparkles on your finger; but 1 0! the wonderful thought that every gcito is <r pe&rl \ and tHo day will come when' we may go sweeping •through the gates if we will. God has 'done'everything that He could do, and •‘our - entering in now rests upon our\::'Selyes:. • But the ‘ brightness of heaven, aside from the presence of Christ, is not due to the gates, nor to the walls, nor to the streets, but to the presence of those who have been redeemed. • • „ I have been told that the deeper the water, the larger the pearl. Whether that be true or not, I can not tell; but I know that from the greatest depths God sometimes takes His brightest jewels. It is no cause for discouragement if you have been a great sinner. Paul was a persecutor, Bunyan a blasphemer, Newton a libertine, _ and yet they shine to-day as the jewels of Christ. . . . Geologists tell us that the diamond is only crystallized carbon, charcoal glorified. This Book tells ns something bet- | ■ ter than that, that “though your sms b© as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall he as wool.” Heaven is a place of unutterable sweetness. Can you imagine the number of little children there? Can anyone decribes the sweetness of a child s song? And when you remember that your own little one may be there ! What wonderful singing it is as their lips are touched by the finger of Christ, and their hearts are thrilled with His presence. , The boy -who was blind makes the best expression of Heaven to me. The doctor had cut away the obstruction from his eyes, and the bandages placed there were removed one by one until after a little they had been all taken off. When he opened his eyes in silent wonder as if a new v r orld had been opened to him, he beheld his mother, and yet he did not know that it was she. Finally he heard her familiar voice asking him, “My son, can you see?” He sprang into her arms, exclaiming, “0, Mother, is this Heaven. That is the best definition. Heaven is seeing eye to eye, knowing even as we are known. If there is one word which better than another will describe Heaven to me, it is an explanation.

DR WHYTE AND COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS. In his sermon at Whitefield’s, London, on a recent Sunday night, Mr Silvester Horne told a very beautiful story about Dr Alexander Whyte. For many vears a commercial traveller, Mr Rigby found himself at certain intervals in Edinburgh for a Sunday, and he made a point of persuading his comrades at the hotel to go with him to hear Dr. Whyte. One Sunday night a fellow commercial traveller came up to him and said, ‘I am intensely gratified to you for taking me to Free St. George s. This morning I found pardon, this evening I found peace.’ .A Sunday or two later Mr Rigby was in Edinburgh, and at on#, of the services he could tell that Dr White -was having a ‘bad time’ —he was failing to grip his audience. So on Monday morning he went round to the Doctor’s house to tell him the story of the commercial who had come to Christ through his preaching and so cheer and gladden his heart. He found Dr Whyte pacing the room in a mood of great depression. After telling Lis story the Doctor 6aid, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Rigby,’ he replied. Dr Whyte then went to a bureau and took out a bundle of letters. ‘You see these letters?’ lie exclaimed. ■ ‘They have come to me at various times during many, years past, and they are all from commercial travellers who tell me that they started on the Christian life through being brought to the services at Free St. George’s by Mr Rigby.’ Dll AKED ON SCAREMONGERS. .

Dr Aked’s views on the naval scare have a vigorous and unmistakable ring. ‘John Bull in a panic/ writes Dr Aked, ‘is always a stupid animal. But John Bull in a war panic is unspeakable. The admiration of all lovers 01 peace and of liberty is due to those Englishmen, who refuse to be bullied out of their seven senses, and in their calm and simple strength maintain the high traditions of their race. One of the most pitiable things in the whole sordid and silly story is the defection of some of the Labor men. There is nothing in the Socialistic movement it it is not international, umversahstic. In the eyes of many who refuse to pledge themselves to its economics, ana who Regard its practical proposals with the gravest distrust, a redeeming feature lias been its professions of brotherhood. Fairminded critics .of Socialism have seen in the growth of internationalism a hope of ultimate, universal peace, . ; .In international conference after conference speeches have been made and resoutions earned affirming the -worker’s hatred of war anti his determination to- bring in the reign of peace. In this spirit Mr Keir. Hurdle ' was understood to contemplate the "future of the movement he had crossed the " Atlantic to expound. In these weeks of trial' Mr Keir Hardio lias been consistent and true. So has Mr Philip Snowden, “the. prophet of the Labor Movement” in the House of Commons. And others have kept their honor dean. But, on the other hand, some who bear well-kriowiL names in' the Socialist movement have covered themselves with coni-, tempt,; and' an far as they could, their cause as well.’- '