Volume 52 WARBURTON, VICTORIA, JUNE 7, 1948 Number 23 "Who Shall Roll Us THE BRIDGE Away the Stone ?" You'll Never Cross • E. E. WHITE It's what you think that makes the world Assistant Secretary Education Department, Union Conference Seem sad or gay to you; Your mind may colour all things grey, blocked their retreat, and but for the looking up, they see that the stone is Or make them radiant hue. protecting cloud would have annihilated rolled back." That exceeding great stone Be glad today, be true and wise, them; before them lay the cold, unin- which symbolized their hopelessness was Distinguish gold from dross; viting and impassable barrier of water, not blocking their entrance after all. Waste neither time nor thought about and in their dire peril they forgot God's The imagined difficulty was of their own The bridge you'll never cross. leading in their recent history, and com- creation, and approaching it revealed to plained to Moses. JehoVah had only one their astonished gaze that it was no There's useful work for you to do, answer, "Wherefore criest thou unto Me? obstacle. Where then the cause for worry, For hand and brain and heart; . speak unto the children of Israel, for repining, for being downcast or dis- There's urgent human service, too, that they go forward." The barrier that couraged? In which to take your part. had caused such consternation was by a It was Abraham Lincoln who confessed Make every opportunity miracle removed, and proved a channel of A worth-while gain, not loss; once that he had suffered cruelly from blessing and of escape; and the experience troubles that never happened! Often- The best is yours, so do not fear which came out of their troubled condition The bridge you'll never cross. times our troubles are like the stone at the became so widely known that the giants of selpulchre—rolled away as we approach. Palestine trembled in their strongholds. If life seems drab and difficult, In sharp contrast to the laboured exertions So today our times of adversity can become of the men who rolled it into place, we Just face it with a will; in the hands of God times of triumph and You do not have to work alone, read in "Desire of Ages," page 780, that victory and landmarks in our growth into the mighty angel removed the stone "as Since God is with you still. deeper faith and patience. Press on with courage toward the goal, he would a pebble." "Mountains piled With Truth your shield emboss; The folly of giving away to our troubles upon mountains over His sepulchre could Be strong, look up, and just ignore and worrying in advance of difficulties not have prevented Him from coming The bridge you'll never cross. that we anticipate will confront us is well forth." The evil angels around the tomb illustrated by the story of the women who fled at the approach of the mighty angel, —Grenville Kleiser. went to the tomb of Jesus on the first the Roman guards trembled and became as Easter Sunday. They had marked the dead men, the bonds of the tomb were place of the sepulchre on the Friday, and burst and the gloom was changed to glory. had seen the men struggling and straining To show his utter contempt for man's HE path of the Christian is not always as they pushed the heavy stone into the devisings, we read that after the angel bedecked with roses, neither can the groove prepared for it. Since then it had rolled away the stone he "sat upon it." T one who is in close communion with been roped and sealed and guarded, and Sat upon it! And this was Satan's might- God thereby be guaranteed a cloudless some of these problems must have filled the iest effort, the hour of his greatest triumph, journey. Our Saviour Himself, who lived minds of the women, as they pursued their when pandemonium had taken possession a perfect life here on earth, was given way early in the morning. of this world. The obstacle became a the title of "Man of sorrows," and can His "Who shall roll us away the stone from resting-place instead of a barrier. disciples expect that they will escape the the door of the tomb?" they said to them- Our lives are often beset with problems periods of discouragement with which selves. They certainly were not strong to which we do not know the answers, Satan tries to bar our onward progress? enough, and there would be no casual blocked by stones of difficulties which our It is part of God's plan that difficulties passers-by at that early hour in the poor human strength is unable to remove; and perplexities shall be permitted to hedge morning. Well might they have given way but if we go forward as did the Israelites our pathway in order that in our ex- to their soul-searing grief and returned at the Red Sea or the women at the tomb, tremity we may exercise faith in the divine home to wait for a more propitious oc- we shall find that nothing can bar our leading. casion. But they continued on their way way. Either we shall receive greater So it was at the Red Sea when the in spite of this immovable obstacle that strength or the difficulty will be taken Israelites were trapped between the moun- prevented their performing the last rites to away. tains and the sea. The Egyptian army the body of their beloved Master. "And (Concluded on page 8) [Registered at the G.P.O., Sydney, for transmission by post as a newspaper.) 2 AUSTRALASIAN RECORD 7/6/48 How they keep account of the days amazes me. "They gave us about two hundred finely woven mats and quite a shipload of other Owl 16eand gieed handiwork, representing accumulated tithes and offerings. To make these gifts it must have meant many hours of patient labour, and I am sure that our heavenly and free response was the result, many Father will not let such faithfulness go Another Visit to the Friendly being deeply moved. unrewarded. They expressed their sorrow Isles We found the workers well and happy. that owing to the length of time since our last visit, nearly eight years ago, hundreds THE EDITOR There is a fine enrolment of students at the college under Brother J. Cernick, who of articles spoiled and had to be discarded. Evidently it was the friendly attitude is doing strong work which is much ap- "These people have no way of earning of the people of what is now known as the preciated by the Director of Education, money except as government or mission Tongan Group that impressed Captain himself a very devout Christian. Pastor ships may call. There are no anchorages Cook to name it the Friendly Islands. Ferris is much loved by the whole of near the island. We took with us medical That characteristic still lives in the hearts Tonga. This family is a great asset to supplies, hymn-books, Bibles, and school of the Tongan people after 150 years of the field. Pastor John Kamea, who is in requisites—such as pencils, exercise books, intercourse with the so-called civilized charge of the work in the Vavau district, chalk, etc., all of which were greatly ap- though warring world. was visiting headquarters and helping preciated. "The appearance of the people is some- Following a very pleasant, and we hope Pastor Ferris. He has been instrumental in recovering several who had wandered what Asiatic. Their way of life is very profitable, visit of two and a half weeks in from the fold. He reports*a growing work primitive; but they look reasonably well." Fiji, Pastor B. H. McMahon and I boarded This little mission outpost is one of the a large cargo steamer as passengers for in his district, which we were unable to visit. It is there that Miss Ferguson has many thousands that lie in the various Tonga and Samoa. We arrived at the waters of the globe. It is one from which wharf in Suva at 6.30 a.m. On taking our taught school for so long and at quite a personal sacrifice. God plans to gather a remnant. What a cases and cameras aboard we were told Pastor James Moala, a native worker of wonderful time it will be when the that the captain felt somewhat embar- redeemed from every age and nation shall rassed in that he could not offer us the long standing, is a reliable assistant to Pastor Ferris. He translated for us, and meet around the throne of the Lamb, and usual accommodation; for the two cabins with a pure language sing praises to Him used for European passengers were occu- evidently put our message over with feel- ing and effect. He is the father of a large who loved them and gave Himself for pied by men going right through to Van- them! couver, B.C. So we had to travel as deck family, the eldest girl being a teacher in passengers. Deck passage is for native the Magaia day school at Nukualofa. people who take their own bedding and Others could be mentioned both in the rations for travel between these ports. field and in the school. They all received Home Again in Tahiti us royally, and the time passed all too The ship takes two days to travel between AGNES POROI each group.