ST. JAMES'.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 186, 19 August 1901, Page 2

ST. JAMES.

The Rev. A. n. Collins preached at Bt. James' Presbyterian Church yesterday morning, taking as his text Phil. i. 27: "Behave as citizens worthily of the Gospel of Christ." The preacher outlined the position of the Christians of Philippi, as members of tlie Roman Empire, and said it would have been strange indeed A Jesus Christ had set His Church in opposition to the State. The State was a Divine institution, and they owed the duty of loyalty to it no less than to the Church He was not a worthy citizen who did not feel proud of its best traditions, and seek at all times to purify its public morals, and elevate its civic tone. Christianity required that men should carry the law of Jesus Christ into social, civic, and political life. The preacher could not understand the people who, by strange misreading of Scripture, and the cultivation of a fastidious spirituality, had come to feel that they could not soil their lily-white hands with politics, and affected to scorn the duties of citizens Sip, though they enjoyed it* advantages What he would seek to impress upon Christian people was that it is part of the obligation of citizenship to deliberate on the public life of the city, and take an intelligent interest in its institutional life.- They had a citizen's duty to perform. Dr. Whitelaw conducted the evening1 service.