SUNDAY COLUMN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 35, 20 November 1937, Page 9

SUNDAY COLUMN

, NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. (Conducted by the Ashburton Ministers’ Association). WORLD CHURCH COUNCIL. A plan for a. World Council of Churches was approved by the World Conference on Faith and Oi der, which closed recently in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was attended by 400 delegates, including more than 125 leading churchmen from Canada and the United States. Tho ground-work was laid for a federation, not a union, of the Christian churches, excepting the Roman Catholic, which was not represented. The Edinburgh Conference authorised the appointment of a committee to co-operate with one appointed at tbe Uxford Conference on Life and Work, held in England in July, which will go ahead with the plans for a World Council. The World Council of Churches is to consist of a general assembly ol 200 representatives of the churches, which will meet every five years, and a central council of 60 persons that will meet every year. The World Conference at Edinburgh met frequently behind closed doors, and proceeded often “without speeches.” It dealt with the unusually difficult questions that divide „Christians. One of the conference reports said that a common ministry was regarded as the vital step in a United Church. Much work will have to be done to work out the ways and means of union. RELIEF CAMP IN CHINA. A refugee camp accommodating 10,000 women and children has been organised by the Salvation Army in Shanghai. Very touching reports are to hand of the extreme sufferings of the women and children of China as the result of tbe present unfortunate conflict. A PRAYER. Gracious and Eternal Father, we pray that Thou wilt, in Thy great mercy and through the blood of Jesus Thy Son, cleanse us from all sin and iniquity, and give us the glorious assurance of life eternal. Amen. A MEDITATION. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.—Ps. 51; 2, 10. Most of the problems of life are not outside us, but within us. Our chief need is not that God should change our circumstances, but that He should change us. If we were different life would he different. Sin brings trouble, sorrow and despair into the life. Sin may be described as any lack of conformity to, or any transgression of, tho law of God. Thus, sin is connected with law. If thore were no law there would be no sin. God’s will or law, the Bible takes for granted everyone may learn; either from the Bible or from that inner knowledge of right and wrong which all possess and which Paul calls ‘the law written in their hearts.’ All sin is primarily against God; it is transgression of God’s law, man doing his own will instead of God’s will; this is tho distinctive character of Bin. Those who disbelieve in God can have no adequate or sufficient idea of sin. Sin is willing departure from right. This is shown by the meaning of the words commonly used for it in the Bible. ‘lniquity’ means that which is unjust, unfair, and thus a turning aside from God’s standard of equity and righteousness. ‘Transgression’ means stepping across or passing beyond a limit or border; thus; crossing the line of God’s law and commandments, and as a result going away from Him. ‘Sin’ means coming short of one’s ‘whole duty’; blameworthy failure to attain the right standard. Sin may consist in yielding to what is wrong (sin of commission) or in not comforming to what is right (sin of omission) . \« Man is sinful in two ways. First, he has a sinful nature. He is barn with an inclination or tendency to evil. His heart is wrong; he prefers his own way to God’s way. This depravity, or disposition to sin, affects every part of man’s being and renders man unable, by his own efforts, to deliver himself. Then he commits sinful acts. These although the outcome of his sinful nature, are yet done by his own choice. Man is thus, himself, guilty of transgressing God’s law. Ho then can only expect to receive the .wages of sin, which is eternal destruction.

Tho sinner is responsible for his own sin. The Bible always ascribes sinful acts, feelings an thoughts to each individual’s own i free and deliberate choice. Although prone to evil, man is a tree* agent. His spiritual powers were marred but not destroyed by the Fall. God speaks through his conscience, kindles in him good desires, and is always at hand to make him more than superior to the evil in his disposition and surroundings. No one will perish far the sins of his forefathers ; however evil may be a person’s inherited tendency, it can be overcome in the strength of God. “My grace will be sufficient for you.” Conscience confirms the testimony of the Bible. When a. man experiences remorse ou account of sin and wrongdoing it is because lie knows that lie himself is to blame. The great need, then, for man is to have his sin forgiven and cleansed "away by the Blood of Christ who made the atonement for sin by His death upon the Cross. A village woman came to a doctor .in India with a very bad abscess. She pleaded for a plaster to put over it instead of opening it with the knife, as the doctor suggested. He insisted that he must get out the .poison lest it spread to the heart and kill her. She begged for the plaster, refused the knife, and went home. As predicted, tho poison spread to her heart and killed her. Jesus insists that we do not cover up with the plaster of selfjustification and self-excuse our sin and wrong-doing, lest they poison our inmost souls and kill us spiritually. The only way is to get lid of the poison.