SUNDAY READING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2670, 27 November 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

THE BURDEN BEARER.

Cfost on Me ,thy burden, I willthee ■ : ’sustain," ' ’ ; : It and thee, and all thy labor and thy , pair*'.' 1 Be at peace for ever, cease ‘from gnawing care, Lean i&ll weight'Upoh Me;' tell Me all thy prayer, Every new besetment, every trouble more, .■ .• ' ' .Christ the -burden bearer passeth'on before. ‘

“REST,”

(By F. B. Meyer.) Rest in the Lord, for He is strength. Your worrying will' do you no good. To fret and fume will only exhaust your nervous energy, without adding one pulse of strength to your working (force. You may as well give it up, and lie back on the strong arms of God. Rest there. As a child' will rest in the strong arms of the father; as a womarr, frightened and breathless, will make for the man she loves, and rest within his chivalrous protection; as a scout stealing through the lines of the enemy wi&iout, food or 6leep, 'cdhoealing himself by day, and stealing watchfully through the darkness, will not relax one sense or sinew, till lie is safe back within pickets of his own side, then he breathes freely, and rests without fear —so let us make for the strong arms of God, which reach down towards men, as tne long walls of Dover harbor stretch out into the sea, as though beckoning storm-tossed voyagers into their embrace. And wliat a slackening of ropes, and letting down of sails takes -place when the harbor-mouth is passed! Wait! Be silent! Be patient! Quiet those thoughts that traverse the past, and dread the future, and fix your thoughts on the presence and love of God. Have you never felt like this in the night? You have been lying awake listening to the slow revolution of the hours. Something has tried you during the day, and you seem unable to dismiss the thought of it. Back and back you return on it. Your sin, folly, mistake, misfortune, awful loss; the tidings that flashed from the battlefield ; the warning which could not be disregarded. You said to. this goes on I shall be good for nothing in the morning.” You make a great effort, and shut the door against the return of the tumult. You refuse to go round the weary treadmill-path again, : or tread the burning ashes. You will turn your thoughts away, or make your mind a blank. You turn over on your pillow, a.nd, with closed eyes, wait for sleep. It comes with velvet tread, and you wake in four or five hours, astonished at the lateness of the morning, but feeling ineffably recruited. From latest American files it is learned that General Booths is expected to visit Canada and the United States at an early date. Meetings have recently been held representative of the different denominations in Sydney, including the Church of England, Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist, Baptist and Church of Christ, with the object of initiating the laymen’s missionary movement in Sydney. A constitution has. been adopted on somewhat similar lines to that in force in the United States and Canada, and shortly branch organisations under the federation will bo formed in the several Churches. Speaking at the Cup Day meetings of the Salvation Army, Commissioner Hay, the new commander, in dealing with the canteen discussion in the House of Representatives, said:—“The Salvation Army holds a perpetual brief against tile drink traffic, whether amongst military troops or in the ordinary walks of life. Our soldiers neither touch, taste, nor handle the intoxicating cup, and have voluntarily obligated themselves to use their utmost endeavor to overthrow the evil, and to rescue its victims from its consequences here and hereafter.’ There were several big religious gatherings in England last month, including the Church Congress at Swansea. The religious contributor to the “Manchester Guardian” says that the most important of these were "those of the five Methodist churches sitting by their representatives in assembly at Wesley’s Chapel, London. “Such a reunion has never been held before. If the spirits of the departed can see what passes on earth probably nothing that has happened since his death would more delight John himself. It was Dr Moulton who sounded the note of prophecy when he said that this gathering -.’'represented. ‘a Methodist church'.’ There is one Methodist church in America, one in Canada, one in Ireland. Is it coming in England? Already the Methodists are by far the most numerous body of Protestants among the English-speaking peoples. Their union in England would be a great step towards Christian union generally.” A large audience at the Church House, Westminster, last month bade farewell to seventy-two missionaries who were going out to various foreign , mission fields under the auspices of Church Missionary Society. Among, the seventy-two missionaries who are going to eleven different districts are the Ilishop of Hokkiado, of the Japanese Islands, the Bishop of. Kiushiu, Japau, and forty-two women. The districts to which they will go are a,s follows; —Yoruba, five men and four women ; Tiger, two men and one woman; Northern Nigeria, three men; South India, two men and four women; Travancoro and Cochin, one man and one woman; Ceylon, two men and three women; South China, three men ana six women; Fuhkien, one man and eight women; Mid China, two men and three women; West China, three men and three women; Japan six men and nine women. The seventy-two missionaries are composed of 23 clergymen, 3 doctors (men), 2 doctors (women), 4 miscellaneous (men) and 40 miscellaneous (women). Sixteen of the missionaries are going out for the first time, and no fewer than ten of these are women. Between June 1 and the beginning of October forty-eight missionaries were sent out by the Church Missionary Society, so that with the seventytwo who hade farewell, and seventy i more who were to do so tlio next evening the Society will have sent out one. i hundred and ninety during the past four months.