SUNDAY READING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2646, 30 October 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

PROVIDENCE. r . We plan—and plan : “This shall be so—- , and so. Tliis shall I do,” and, “Thither shall I go.” ' Yet, as the hours shape themselves to days, We tread not in those same self-chosen Avays; Our feet are led ’long patlis .avo had not guessed, And 10l Ave find those neAver paths are best 1 THE FACE OF CHRIST IN THE DUST. (Wilbur Chapman.) Matt, xxvi: 36-39 —“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, Avhile I go and pray yonder. And He took Avith Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorroAvful and very heavy, 'xlien saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorroAvful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with me. And He avent a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, saying: Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as i Avill, but as thou Avilt.” In the thirtieth , verse. Ave read that when they had sung an hymn they Avent out.’ Hoav simple, and yet lioav profound the meaning! There never had been such a goingout before: there never has been such a going-out since. From the suppei He made His Avay with the faithful few; •to Gethsemane, Avhere the agony avas so great that Gethsemane has stood for suffering ever since. “Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!” I won der avhy the cry? Someone has said it Avas because He Avas about to be branded as a sinner, treated as a sinner, put to death as a sinner, and it Avas His horror of sin that avrnng the cry from 'His soul. Yet ave have trifled Avith it, and sin has ahvays been the same, is to-day, and shall be till the end of time. Dr Gregg tolls of a story in Fox' Book of Martyrs, Avhere a Christian was to die a most horrible death —being placed in a sack, filled almost Avith venomous reptiles. As he looked at it he said: “I can stand this, for Jesus sake. Yet Avhen they put him in the sack, and he felt the first touch of the reptiles upon his face, he gave a shriek oi agony that could not b© described. It is said that no one has ever really known what prayer is until he has learned of the Spirit to put into practice this one offered in Gethsemane. It is not the kind that is offered to the congregation, or that is said at the bedside before Ave close our eyes in sleep; it is the. kind that is crushed, out of us. It- is the cry of the Syrophenoecian avo-. man: “My daughter.. is grievously vexed of the devil.” It is the cry of Jesus in Gethsemane: “My father, let this cun pass from me.” You say, “What! His Father, and all His 'suffering?” ' ■ Yes, His Father still ; and ! yours also. In the midst of an agony that may have almost broken your heart, you might have cried: “My Father!” When there was not a hope in your life ‘you might have whispered, “My Fa-' tlier!” And if the cry bad come' from the heart you Avould have gotten as quick a response: “Be still, and know that I am God.” • - ••: - ; MR S. D. GORDON IN ENGLAND. Mr S. D. Gordon, the Avriter of the “Quiet Talks” series of little books, is now in England, on his Avay cut to the foreign mission lands. This is the beginning of a long avork-journey, Avhich Avill extend to all of the mission, lands of the avo rid. The general plan of the journey, Avhich will be subject to change as need arises, devotes six months to J[apan, a year to China, a year to India, and six months to the Levant. The -term Levant is used broadly here, for all the territory lying at the east end of the Mediterranean, from Egypt on the south, around through Constantinople to the Balkan States on the north, and out into Persia and Arabit. Africa and South America will be visited, later. The purpose of the journey is not to 'see, but to serve. It is strictly and only a work-errand. While the .main centres of activity will be visited, yet wherever opportunity affords, or the need calls for it, Mr Gordon will turn aside to go to any place, or any group, for such help as can be given. The Avork will be of three sorts —first, with the misisionaries themselves; then with the English-speaking native populations; vand- then with the non-English-speak-irig peoples, through interpretation. According to present arrangements,. subject to change, Mr Gordon will be remaining in the British Isles until the Missionary- Conference at Edinburgh, in June, 1910 filling appointments for a series of Quiet Talks an various places in the United Kingdom, as opportunity may come, and as far as his \vriting work will permit. Mrs Gordon is accompanying Mr Gordon on this long work-journey, which they have been planning and praying over for several years. Letters will reach Mr Gordon' if addressed care of Messrs Hodder and Stoughton, Warwick-square, London, E.C. DR. LANG IN LEEDS. The neAv Archbishop of York paid his first official visit to Leeds recently, and at the reception in the Town Hall gave some interesting reminiscences of his early career as a curate at the Leeds Parish Church. 'He re--called the fact that two years before he took orders lie Avas travelling by a train which stopped outside a Leeds station. Looking doAvn ho suav a crowded district surrounding the parish church, and dmvardly he pitied the poor creature (“Perhaps,” said the Archbishop slyly, “I may have thought of a more emphatic Avord iu those lay days of mine”) Avho might have to do clerical Avork under such distressing conditions. Within tAVo years he himself was one of the poor creatures, and now he had returned as Primate of the Northern Province, thinking of the Leeds visit as a “home-coming.” Dr. Lang’s address made a deep impression, not merely on the Anglican section of tho ahclience, but upon the great number of Free Churchmen Avho assembled to do him honor. DR, KELMAN IN AMERICA. Dr. John Ivelmau, of Edinburgh, has been preaching to croAvded audiences in the Fifth-avenue Church, Noav York. This church is noAV vacant, and it is understood that Professor Hugh Black has been informally invited to the pastorate. The contributions of the church to “beneA'-olehces” amounted last year to more than £50,000. Dr. J. Ross Stevenson-, the retiring pastor, in the seven years of his incumbency, more than doubled the gifts to missions. The Itcv. Archibald Black, -brother of Professor Hugh Black, lias been called to the pastorate of the Bedford Presbyterian Church, New )York.