Sermon Preached by the Rev. A. N. Rowland in, Union, Church, Shanghai, fon April 30, 1924
"If thou wouldst enter into Hatt. life keep the commandment 19.17. 4
On any other lips than those of christ these words would be regarded as not quite orthodox by! thave who count themselves the. Keepers of orthodoxy. Let us_then begin with the converse statement that those who fail to keep the commandments are on the rond to death. It was in April 12 years ago that the Titanic, that palace on the sea, went down among the ice ergs of the Atlantic with 1,500 souls, The tragic loss of so many people, summoned from: the enjoy ment of grandeur and luxury to nego Death, caused outery against the want of justice er of power upon the eternal throne. But what charge can lie against Him whose will is expressed In law when in defiance of the laws of navigation such course was taken fat such a pace? Or take the question of health in this Settlement of Shanghai, how many break down or paon out who should be in the prime of life. The slope that leads fo death seems steeper here than in the West; yet the veterans out here all assure us that life can maintained in strength, if simple lays of health are abso Tagore on England And £0 it is with other types of life, to enter nnd enjoy it depends tupan the Keeping of the relevant laws, Take social life for in its various secular fo Jand but not the south of Ireland, sin the north but not the south Italy, In the east but not the of Spain. Why this difference? In the former places the command ments that bear on business are observed—the laws of industry, thrift and honesty, but where there are neglected there are no signs of prosperous commercial life.
Or take human affairs at a higher pointd. There is a standard of public life which ik reached and maintained only by a general observance of duty, loyalty and discipline. Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, who gives no blind devotion. to Western ideals, has recently dec Jared that he found in England something higher still—n life, which in due to the influence of high example and literature, and depends on the fulfilment of laws that axe written in the heart rather than the statute book, such as recognition of the day of rest, consideration for the poor, and the honour. paid to liberty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.